Google says China blocking its email services

BEIJING (AP) — Google says the Chinese government is interfering with its email services in China, making it difficult for users to gain access to its Gmail program.

Google said its engineers have determined that there is no technical problems with the email service or its main website.

“There is no technical issue on our side; we have checked extensively. This is a government blockage carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail,” the company said in a brief statement.

A Google spokesperson said that users in China have reported having intermittent problems with the service since the end of January.