China lifts some Internet curbs for Olympic press

China on Friday allowed media at the Olympic press centre to access Amnesty International's website and a small number of previously censored sites, but a wide array of others remained blocked.

The previously barred websites of media watchdog Reporters Without Borders and German broadcaster Deutsche Welle were also accessible, according to an AFP reporter.

However many other sites were still blocked, including those linked to Chinese dissidents, the outlawed Falungong spiritual movement, the Tibetan government-in-exile and sites with information on the 1989 Tiananmen massacre.

The easing of some curbs follows a week of controversy after China backtracked on a pledge to allow foreign reporters covering the Games complete access to the Internet.

The International Olympic Committee was embarrassed by China's decision, after IOC president Jacques Rogge promised last month that foreign reporters would have unfettered Internet access.

IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies on Friday welcomed China's decision to lift restrictions on some of the sites deemed sensitive, such as the one for Amnesty, a leading human rights group.

"It's a good thing," she said.

The IOC said that it had pressed China to open up the Internet in talks on Thursday with the Beijing Olympic organising committee (BOCOG) and Chinese authorities.

"The issues were put on the table and the IOC requested that the Olympic Games hosts address them," it said.

"We understand that BOCOG will give details to the media very soon of how the matter has been addressed. We trust them to keep their promise."

Australian Olympic team chief and IOC member John Coates said that it appeared BOCOG had agreed to unblock all sites.

"I've heard that the issue has been resolved and I am very happy about that. Promises were made about a free Internet and we are glad to hear that they are going to be respected," he told AFP.

However there were no details available on what the "free Internet" meant, and China had been adamant during the week that it would not back down on the issue.

BOCOG spokesman Sun Weide said that talks with the IOC had gone well.

However, he declined to comment on whether any specific websites had been blocked, or whether restrictions on others had been lifted.