Germany's Rau Criticizes Censorship while in China

German President Johannes Rau, currently on a one-week state visit to China, indirectly criticized the censorship policies of the communist leadership in Beijing on Friday. In a speech at Tsinghua University, Rau said “some states and governments” feared the free access to information the Internet offered their citizens. “We are convinced that society cannot do without the creative potential that requires freedom of information,” Rau said, according to the Germany news agency DPA. Rau also said that attempts to restrict information and press freedom were ultimately doom to failure.