On the eve of a gathering of Pacific Rim leaders that China hopes will showcase it as a modern and open world player, the government has lifted controls on some foreign media Web sites. So, with leaders from 21 Asian-Pacific nations headed to Shanghai for an annual summit, some Chinese had rare access to news from major Western media outlets such as CNN, The Washington Post and BBC. But controls remained in place for other taboo Web sites, including Voice of America and human rights groups such as Amnesty International.

In China, openness only goes so far.
Though international meetings like the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum tend to provoke anti-globalization demonstrations elsewhere, the likelihood of any protests at the Shanghai summit is virtually nil. Bureau Report