China blocks Gmail.

There was already suspicion, but now Google confirms: the Chinese government is blocking access to the company's email service, Gmail. The search giant officially commented that the "Great Wall of China" is specifically disrupting this email platform in the country.

Since last week, users of the platform in that country have been posting complaints on blogs and Twitter about the slowness or complete lack of access to the service. But the Chinese government's plan was well-structured. Apparently, the country blocked access in a way that would resemble a technical problem, the responsibility of Google itself.

Google spokesperson Christine Chen stated that the service was not experiencing any technical issues and that the situation appeared more like a government problem. The company's message read: “There are no technical issues on our end – we have checked extensively. This is a government block, carefully planned to look like a Gmail problem.”

Google's confirmation that the block comes from the Chinese government will not help the good relationship between the two countries. This is not the first episode faced by the two nations on the same issue. In December 2009, an attack by Chinese hackers attempted to infiltrate access to Gmail accounts held by human rights activists. As a result, Google reduced its operations in the East Asian country.

The assumption behind the Chinese government blocking Google's service is that it aims to restrict access for civil organizations to prevent the Jasmine Revolution, protests inspired by the Middle West and North Africa. These revolutions are organized in several Chinese cities every Sunday. The word "Jasmine" and other terms related to anti-government protests in the Middle East can no longer be searched on the country's microblogs.