China accused of blocking access to Google News

BEIJING - China is blocking access to the Google News website, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said on Tuesday as it accused the US-based company of being complicit by filtering its Chinese-language site.

The Paris-based group said the government had been blocking Google's English-language web site for about 10 days, after the company launched a Chinese-language version that removed politically sensitive reports.

Attempts by Reuters to access the site in China on Tuesday resulted in a search freeze.

"China is censoring Google News to force internet users to use the Chinese version of the site which has been purged of the most critical news reports," Reporters Without Borders said in a statement.

"By agreeing to launch a news service that excludes publications disliked by the government, Google has let itself be used by Beijing," it said.

Google News launched its Chinese version in September and agreed not to list certain news on the site, Reporters Without Borders said.

The practice is also common to popular Chinese web portals, including Sina.com, Sohu.com and NetEase.com, which patrol their sites to delete politically sensitive comments.

China's internet market is expected to grow to 111 million subscribers by year-end and is considered a medium for free expression, but the government has in past jailed people for web postings.

It has also created a special cyber police force to monitor sites, servers and registrars.

- REUTERS