Ending the ban came just days after authorities restored text messaging services in the troubled region. Internet access has also been partly reintroduced. "Some websites, such as Sina and Sohu (two popular Chinese web portals) have been reopened, other websites should reopen very soon," the spokesman said.
Riots erupted in Xinjiang's capital Urumqi on July 5, pitting mainly Muslim Uighurs against China's majority Han. A total of 197 people were killed, according to official data, in the worst ethnic violence in China in decades. Authorities quickly reacted by restricting the flow of information going in and out of the region in China's far west. The government says terrorists, separatists and religious extremists used the Internet, telephones and mobile text messages to spread rumours and hatred as the July violence erupted.