More than a million people have “signed up” to a Web site petition being promoted by one of China’s biggest Internet portals to criticize Western media “bias” in covering the Tibetan unrest.
The petition on Sina.com has attracted 1.19 million signatures, most of them from within China, its homepage said yesterday.
The appeal repeats Chinese government statements in referring to “violent crimes of beating, smashing, looting and arson” in Lhasa last month.
“Western media organizations such as CNN and BBC have churned out untrue and distorted reports of the event. Please sign your name here to lodge your strong protest,” it says.
Beijing has in recent weeks organized for the state press to heavily criticize the Western media over its coverage of the unrest, while denying foreign reporters access to the protest areas.
The demonstrations began in Lhasa on March 10 and escalated into the biggest challenge to China’s rule of the Himalayan region in decades.
Beijing maintains that Tibetan “rioters” have killed 18 innocent civilians and two policemen.
It insists that Chinese security forces have killed no one, but Tibetan exiled groups say at least 135 to 140 people have died in the crackdown.
Beijing strictly controls the nation’s press and have ensured that the version of events given by Tibetan exiles and activists groups are either discredited or not publicized in the Chinese media.
For instance, Sina.com does not mention the exiles’ death toll, nor does it refer to what many Tibetans say has been widespread repression under nearly six decades of Chinese rule.
In related news, Chinese authorities appeared to have lifted a block on the English-language version of online encyclopedia Wikipedia, but politically sensitive topics such as Tibet and Tiananmen Square are still off limits.
Internet users in Beijing and Shanghai confirmed yesterday they could access the English-language version of one of the world’s most popular Web sites, but the Chinese-language version was still restricted.
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