Websites Disappear in China

The Financial Times and Wall Street Journal disappeared in China last week.

It's not clear exactly why the sites went dark, but the suspected reason is because the WSJ and FT covered in depth an open letter written by a group of retired Communist Party members that called for greater openness in media and less censorship. The letter was published briefly on various Chinese sites before being censored.

The Journal's Chinese-language site still isn't back up; the paper declined to comment. An FT spokeswoman in New York said the site was down "due to technical issues which have been resolved now."

As the economy has gotten stronger, you might think China's media censorship would relax more, but it hasn't.

For communism to endure, it's necessary for the public to be kept in the dark.