China blocks access to WikiLeaks

China today blocked access to WikiLeaks, which has released 2.5 lakh secret US documents, with its official media stonewalling publication of the leaked cables highlighting Beijing’s embarrassing predicament over its close ally North Korea and allegations that it directly authorised hacking of Google.

Wikileaks.Org and cablegate.Wikileaks.Org were totally blocked and could not be accessed even through some of the free proxy servers, underlining the extent of control the government exercises in China, which has the largest network base of over 420 million internet users.

China routinely blocks access to a large content, including information relating to Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, websites run by Tibetan activists as well as dissidents through a massive network of firewalls.