'The Guardian' blocked in China for unknown reasons

British newspaper "The Guardian" has been blocked in China, but the reasons remained unclear.

The Guardian cited an anti-censorship website, "greatfire.org", as saying that its website was first blocked on Tuesday.

The newspaper said that none of the China-related stories published by the Guardian in the past two days would be perceived as dangerous by the country's leadership, still the reason to be blocked was not known, News24 reports.

China's ruling Communist Party routinely blocks access to foreign news websites, which it deems inappropriate or politically sensitive, in a bid to maintain power and preserve stability.

The websites of the New York Times and Bloomberg News have been blocked in China for more than a year after they published reports about the wealth of family members of former Premier Wen Jiabao and President Xi Jinping, respectively.

However, access to the Guardian and other blocked websites is limited to people with virtual private networks (VPNs) that can bypass China's internet blocking mechanism, known as the "Great Firewall.