China to expand foreign newspaper sales for games

China is expanding sales of foreign newspapers and magazines for next month's Beijing Olympics, the importer and a state newspaper said Thursday.

Overseas publications will be sold through new kiosks located in areas catering to athletes and international media covering the games, said an official with the periodicals department of the China National Publication Import and Export Corp.

China usually restricts sales of overseas publications to hotels and shops catering to foreigners, ensuring ordinary Chinese have little exposure to them. Foreign news Web sites are blocked in China and satellite news channels such as CNN and BBC are restricted to hotels, offices and housing compounds occupied by foreigners.

The official, who gave only his surname, Xue, because he wasn't authorized to speak to reporters, said about 30 newspapers and magazines from the U.S., Britain, France, Italy, and other countries would be on sale over the course of the Aug. 8-24 Olympics.

The English-language China Daily said organizers were aiming for same-day delivery of newspapers.

"Providing foreign newspapers and magazines during the Olympics is an international practice and also part of our commitment to the Games," the paper said, quoting Jiao Guoying, president of China National.

For subscribers, overseas newspapers usually arrive late in the day wrapped in a blue plastic envelope. Chinese censors often remove or paste shut pages of newspapers and magazines that contain stories or other content considered sensitive or unflattering to the communist authorities, including several pages of a recent National Geographic special edition devoted to China.

China lifted some travel restrictions on foreign media in the run up to the games, although Chinese reporters continue to face strict limits on what they can write. Despite the temporary rules relaxation, foreign reporters continue to face routine petty harassment from police and the security forces and some received death threats following anti-government rioting in Tibet this spring.

Authorities refused to investigate the threats, accusing virtually the entire foreign press corps of anti-China bias.