China blocks BBC website

[George Michaelson]

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/low/english/world/asia-pacific/newsid_191000/191707.stm

China 'blocks' BBC Website 
--------------------------

 The main state-controlled Internet service provider in Beijing, China Net,
 is believed to be blocking access to the BBC's non-commercial web service.

 The server concerned, at www.bbc.co.uk, provides access to most of the
 BBC's publicly-funded material, including BBC News.

 The block means that Internet users in the capital cannot listen to
 the BBC's Mandarin broadcast in real audio or read transcripts of BBC
 Chinese Service News.

 Also affected are the Web pages of the English language news and current
 affairs programme, East Asia Today.
 
 The blocking appears to have begun within the last month. But the BBC's
 English Language news accessed from a different address, news.bbc.co.uk,
 does not appear to affected.
 
 It is not clear whether other Internet providers around China, all of
 which are state-controlled, are also blocking the server.
 
 An official of the state-owned Beijing Telecom, which runs China Net,
 has confirmed that www.bbc.co.uk is not accessible, but said he did not
 know why.

Lists of banned sites
---------------------

 Western experts in Beijing say the police submit lists of banned Websites
 to the Internet providers, who then block them.

 But the government never publicly admits that it is doing so.