China says it will not back down on internet censorship for the Olympics, insisting banned sites were in breach of Chinese laws.
"A small number of Internet sites are blocked, mainly because they violate Chinese law," Beijing Olympic organising committee spokesman Sun Weide said when asked whether curbs for the foreign press would be lifted.
"We hope that foreign media will respect Chinese law in this matter."
Sun then explained to journalists what the policy on the internet would be.
"During the Olympic Games we are going to (give you) full access to the internet to facilitate your media reporting so that you can have full access to internet to do your reporting job," he said.
"The reason why you cannot go to some of these websites, the reason is they are disclosing or they are doing something illegal or transmitting information that is illegal based on the Chinese laws.
"For instance, they are propagating this evil cult the Falun Gong, they're doing something that is detrimental to the national interests of China.
"I hope the press will respect the Chinese laws and regulations."
