China will abide by foreign media commitments

Beijing will abide by its commitments to provide unfettered access for foreign reporters during the Olympic Games, a government spokesman said Thursday.

Cabinet spokesman Guo Weimin said authorities have been working hard to ensure access, including allowing television networks to broadcast live from Tiananmen Square.

The Beijing Olympic organizers "have done a lot of work to help overseas media to cover the Olympic Games, to fulfill our commitment to the International Olympic Committee," Guo said.

Guo's remarks are one of the strongest statements the government has made about media access despite months of criticism that it was backtracking on promises made when it bid for the Olympics.

Foreign reporters have complained about disrupted interviews and harassment of sources while international broadcasters have said cumbersome red tape was hampering coverage.

With about three weeks to go, broadcasters and the IOC are still wrangling with Beijing Olympic organizers over access to Tiananmen and which areas of the city might be off-limits to coverage.

China has "greatly helped" the broadcast media, Guo said, and has already approved 407 applications to import satellite equipment, including 52 satellite trucks.

He defended an 18-month-old regulation that gives foreign media freedom to travel everywhere except Tibet and interview without prior permission, saying it "has been carried out smoothly."

Officials, however, have frequently undermined the law, closing off areas to foreign reporters.

A swath of Tibetan areas of western China has been sealed off since protests in March. Reporters have been denied access to areas in Sichuan province wrecked in May by an earthquake.