The popular online search engine company Google launched its Chinese news service. A few weeks later, China began a massive firewall blockade of English language news, according to Paris-based Reporters without Borders.

“China is censuring 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. “By agreeing to launch a news service that excludes publications disliked by the government, Google has let itself be used by Beijing.”

The press freedom watchdog group says that the Chinese Government has been blocking Google’s English-language websites since about Nov. 19.

The blockade coincides with the launch of the U.S. company’s Chinese-language version of news. Despite wide criticism, the widely-used Internet search company is openly preventing the flow of English news and information into China. The move seems to be related to an overall strategy to block certain sites since September this year to avoid being completely cut off from China. For instance, Google refused to list news published by such sites as both the English and Chinese versions of The Epoch Times (www.theepochtimes.com) and Voice of America (www.voanews.com). Google News executive such as Andrew McLaughlin, Google’s head of corporate ethics, have attempted to justify their position by saying their actions guarantee quality of service for their users.

Screening popular Internet sites is customary in China. Sina.com, Sohu.com and NetEase.com, patrol their sites to delete politically sensitive comments, according to Reuters. All media into China is filtered to avoid offending Communist Party leaders.
Even Murdoch-owned Phoenix Satellite TV has admitted that they avoid coverage of politically sensitive topics, such as the banned meditation group Falun Gong.

Reuters estimates that China’s Internet market is expected to grow to 111 million subscribers by the end of 2004 and is considered a medium for free expression. However, restrictions are extremely tight and the government has even jailed people for posting information considered sensitive, such as pro-democracy views.

China is commonly known to have one of the strictest Internet-censorship policies in the world. The Chinese government has also created a special cyber-police force to monitor sites, servers and registrars.