Twitter, Flickr, Other Websites Unwelcome In China

Just two days shy of the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, China shut down access to Twitter, Flickr and other websites, according to members of Reporters Without Borders (RSF). 

"Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the blockage of a dozen websites such as Twitter, YouTube, Bing, Flickr, Opera, Live, WordPress and Blogger in China," the media rights group admitted.

The action is the latest indication of the strict, authoritarian government’s attempt to keep tabs on the incoming and outgoing information in the country. 

The group further asserted, "The Chinese government stops at nothing to silence what happened 20 years ago in Tiananmen Square."

"By blocking access to a dozen websites used daily by millions of Chinese citizens, the authorities have opted for censorship at any price rather than accept a debate about this event."

Internet communities are becoming more and more significant in spreading news of a wide range of happenings, and China has the largest online population in the world, which is reasonable cause for unrest in leadership.

On Tuesday, the websites were no longer accessible to Chinese Internet users, Chinese nationals told RSF.

Although US policy "supports freedom of expression," a spokesman for the US State Department said, a more unrestrained US response could be expected on Wednesday. 

"With regard to any activities that the Chinese government is undertaking in connection with the anniversary … we will have more to say tomorrow through a statement on the anniversary," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.

Additionally, the spokesman remarked that “the issue of human rights is a very important element of our relationship with China."

Microsoft offered no immediate comment regarding the move by China. The computer technology giant recently launched its new search engine, Bing; Yahoo!. 
China has already blocked Google-owned YouTube back in March.

China’s foreign correspondents’ association expressed disapproval of acts by authorities in Beijing to prohibit reporting in the days leading up to the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

There were reportedly three accounts of authorities blocking reporters at Tiananmen Square as well as intimidating threats to journalists or their sources, said the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China (FCCC).

On the night of June 3-4, 1989, soldiers were dispatched by the nation’s communist leadership to clear the square with force, terminating the 7-week protest demanding political reform.

The subject is still an unmentionable matter in China because of the hundreds, some say thousands, of people who lost their lives in the crackdown. 

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Image Caption: "Tank man" blocks a column of tanks heading east on Beijing’s Chang’an Boulevard (Avenue of Eternal Peace) near Tiananmen Square during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. This photo was taken from the sixth floor of the Beijing Hotel, about half a mile away, through a 400mm lens. This photo was taken on June 5, 1989, by Jeff Widener (AP).  

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On the Net:

• Reporters Without Borders
• Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China