Now that the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protest and crackdown are over, China has restored access to Google services in the country. They
had been totally blocked for roughly a month in the run up to the anniversary.
The Chinese government had denied it was interfering with access to Google and implied there was a problem on 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.
The Chinese government sought to blame to Google for the month-long interruptions. However, multiple sources confirmed that China 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 U.S. and Chinese governments have periodically traded charges of cyber-espionage, with China leveling charges as a defense to U.S.-based revelations that now seem to come with regularity. Chinese state-sponsored hacking is generally directed toward Western companies and governments in an effort to steal technology or military and state-security secrets.
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