China does not confirm YouTube blocked
China did not confirm on Wednesday that it had blocked YouTube, after the US-based firm said its popular video-sharing website could not be accessed in the giant Asian nation.
"At present we have no information we can give you," a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry told AFP.
The ministry of industry and information technology, which is responsible for the regulation of the Internet in China, also refused to comment.
YouTube said on Tuesday that the site had been blocked in China, and attempts to open it in the capital Beijing resulted in a message saying it could not be displayed.
"We do not know the reason for the blockage and we’re working as quickly as possible to restore access to our users in China," said Scott Rubin, a US-based spokesman for YouTube.
When asked on Tuesday whether the website had been blocked by Chinese authorities, China’s foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang did not deny or confirm the allegation.
"What I can tell you is that the Chinese government manages the Internet according to law," he told reporters.
The site’s unavailability came after a video clip appeared on the Internet this week alleging to show Chinese police brutality in Tibet, which the official Xinhua news agency said was "a lie."
The video appeared to show numerous Tibetans, some in monks’ robes, being shackled and beaten by police.
"The video, made public recently by the Dalai Lama’s ‘Tibetan government-in-exile,’ which showed Chinese policemen ‘overusing violence,’ was a lie," Xinhua said on Tuesday.
"The Dalai Lama group is used to fabricating lies to deceive the international community and the aim of this video is to hide the truth" of last year’s riots, it said.
Chinese authorities have a history of blocking websites they deem politically unacceptable or offensive.
During the riots in March last year, YouTube access was temporarily unavailable in China after video clips appeared showing violent protests against Chinese rule in the Tibetan capital Lhasa.
Tibet’s exiled government has said more than 200 Tibetans were killed in the crackdown on the riots. China reported killing one Tibetan "insurgent" and said "rioters" were responsible for 21 deaths.
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