IOC admits Internet censorship deal with China

BEIJING (Reuters) - Some International Olympic Committeeofficials cut a deal to let China block sensitive websitesdespite promises of unrestricted access, a senior IOC officialadmitted on Wednesday.

Persistent pollution fears and China's concerns aboutsecurity in Tibet also remained problems for organisers ninedays before the Games begin.

China had committed to providing media with the samefreedom to report on the Games as they enjoyed at previousOlympics, but journalists have this week complained of findingaccess to sites deemed sensitive to its communist leadershipblocked.

"I regret that it now appears BOCOG has announced thatthere will be limitations on website access during Games time,"IOC press chief Kevan Gosper said, referring to Beijing'sOlympic organisers.

"I also now understand that some IOC officials negotiatedwith the Chinese that some sensitive sites would be blocked onthe basis they were not considered Games related," he said.

Attempts at the main press centre to access the website ofAmnesty International, which released a report on Mondayslamming China for failing to honour its Olympic human rightspledges, continued to prove fruitless by mid-week.

Other websites, including those relating to the bannedspiritual group Falun Gong, are also inaccessible.

Beijing organisers said censorship would not stopjournalists doing their jobs in reporting the Games.

"We are going to do our best to facilitate the foreignmedia to do their reporting work through the Internet," BOCOGspokesman Sun Weide told a news conference.

"I would remind you that Falun Gong is an evil, fakereligion which has been banned by the Chinese government."

Reporters without Borders, a Paris-based media watchdog,said it was increasingly concerned that there would be manycases of censorship during the Olympics.

"We condemn the IOC's failure to do anything about this,and we are more sceptical about its ability to ensure that themedia are able to report freely," the group said in astatement.

SMOG-WATCH

But the admission that the Internet will be partly censoredis sure to lead to more criticism for the Olympics host nation,which is already deflecting barbs over everything from thequality of its air to its human rights record.

On Wednesday, Chinese experts said they were working onemergency plans to keep Olympic skies clear, including keepingcars off the roads in nearby provinces, but expected not toneed them unless unusual pollution-trapping weather continued.

The city has already banned cars from roads on alternatedays under an odd-and-even licence plate scheme, suspended somefactory production and opened new subway lines to try to clearits notorious pollution.

"The likelihood of needing stronger measures is verysmall," said Zhu Tong, a professor at Peking University andleader of a technical group advising Games organisers on airquality.

Slightly cooler temperatures and rain on Tuesday havethinned the haze, but with below-par air quality readings onseveral days since the emergency measures took effect on July20, worries remain about athletes wheezing air laced with fumesand dust.

Experts said that given the size of Beijing, the volume ofpollutants that flow into the city from other parts of China,and the short time period before the Games open on August 8,there was little more that could be done.

"In this short a time-frame, even if you took all thepersonal cars off the highway, you might see another 10 percentimprovement, but it would be small," said Staci Simonich, ananalytical chemist at Oregon State University who has beenstudying Beijing's air quality.

"The best thing that could happen during the Games is tohave it rain every night," she said.

China also has other issues on its mind, including securityin the restive region of Tibet, where official media saidChinese police had been mobilised to ensure "absolute securitywithout a single lapse".

The remote region erupted into rioting in March thatsparked protests across China's ethnic Tibetan areas andbrought into focus international criticism of Beijing'spolicies on the issue.

The Tibet Daily announced on Wednesday tough policingduring the Games on top of a sweeping security crackdownalready in place. China is at pains to avoid any shows ofdefiance by pro-Tibet independence groups that could embarrassthe government before a worldwide audience.

(Additional reporting by Emma Graham-Harrison, LindsayBeck, Chris Buckley, Liu Zhen and Simon Rabinovitch; Writing byLindsay Beck; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

(For more stories visit our multimedia website "Road toBeijing" at http://www.reuters.com/news/sports/2008olympics;and see our blog at http://blogs.reuters.com/china)