Econintersect: The BBC has reported that local authorities in China have blocked access to websites associated with Bloomberg and Businessweek. This action follows the publication of an article which outlined the many business interests of relatives of Xi Jinping, the prospective next president of China. Bloomberg said in the article that they compiled the information about Xi’s extended family from public records, mostly in the form of various regulatory filings.
The BBC reported:
“Our Bloomberg.com and Businessweek.com websites are currently inaccessible in China in reaction, we believe, to a Bloomberg News story that was published on Friday morning,” Bloomberg told the BBC.
“Everything else is up and running – consumer and free public [sites] facing are blocked. Terminals are not disrupted.”
Bloomberg explicitly excluded any allegations against Xi’s immediate family:
No assets were traced to Xi, who turns 59 this month; his wife Peng Liyuan, 49, a famous People’s Liberation Army singer; or their daughter, the documents show. There is no indication Xi intervened to advance his relatives’ business transactions, or of any wrongdoing by Xi or his extended family.
This is not the first time that foreign websites have been blocked in China. Earlier this week The New York Times was blocked for several hours when they launched a Chinese language portal. YouTube, Google+, Twitter, Dropbox, Facebook and Foursquare are all banned permanently.
Sanjeev Kulkarni and John Lounsbury
Sources:
- China blocks access to Bloomberg and Businessweek sites (BBC, 29 June 2012)
- Xi Jinping Millionaire Relations Reveal Fortunes of Elite (Bloomberg News, 29 June 2012)
