China re-opens Google access as 25th Tiananmen anniversary passes

With the passing of the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators, China on Thursday restored access to Google services which had been blocked for about a month by a government infamous for its 'great firewall' on the internet.

The Chinese government had denied it was interfering with access to Google, and implied there was a problem at Google's end.

According to Reuters, Chinese users were once again denied access to Google search and maps. Other services such as Flickr and South-Korean-based messaging services Line and KakaoTalk had also been blocked and are now restored.

Despite the government's claims, multiple sources confirmed that it was behind the near-total censorship of Google and other internet services.

China and Google have been at odds since the government first tried hacking into Gmail to obtain information on Chinese dissidents and democracy activists.

Since that hacking revelation, the US and Chinese governments have periodically traded charges of cyber-espionage, with China levelling counter-charges to defend itself against revelations of such espionage that now emerge almost regularly.

Chinese state-sponsored hacking is generally directed toward Western companies and governments in an effort to steal technology or military and state-security secrets; but other countries like neighbouring India are not immune.