China’s Communist lackeys are usually very strict when it comes to muzzling foreign news sites, but it seems they are letting the BBC off the hook as Beeb staff posted in China report that they can now access news stories that would have previously been blocked.

However, the site is only available in languages other than Chinese (the BBC news site has a Chinese language version) and all links in Chinese are disabled. The BBC says that Beijing never officially admitted to blocking the news site in the first place, but it was fairly common knowledge that anyone trying to access the site would be presented with an error message which has now disappeared.

The BBC also reckons that it has seen a surge in site traffic from China and that it has been inundated with comments and forum postings from all over the Chinese region.

The move could be part of the Chinese authorities’ promise to allow foreign journalists more freedom before the Olympics this summer. But serious rioting in Tibet and condemnation of China’s lack of cooperation over the Darfur situation mean that China has come in for a lot of stick from reporters and bloggers alike, making it especially difficult for the ultra sensitive government to keep its word.