Foreign news outlets now have to go through Xinhua to distribute their news. They can no longer distribute news directly to clients inside China directly whether the news is political or financial. Any news that is deemed to be inappropriate, seen as endangering China's sovereignty or territorial integrity, or that is critical of the Communist Party will be banned.

It is odd that after all these years China has reverted to an old habit of keeping tight controls on information, which was the mainstay of the Cold War era. As its economy grows exponentially, the desire for accurate and timely news and information as well as its efficient distribution should become a hallmark of China's progress. Instead, the ruling Communist Party is now reining in on the dissemination of news and information, which had until now been flowing relatively freely.

Certainly the new regulations will put a lid on the foreign media's access to negative or unflattering news and information about China.

Beijing's latest move followed its repressive measures to control access to the Internet as well as the free flow of news and information.

Now it has the best tools available to shut down portals and block websites or blogs that are deemed detrimental to the Communist government's monopoly on power. Worse, it has also exported this technology and know-how around the world, including to Thailand, which is now dabbling in Internet censorship.

Chinese authorities have been suspicious of foreign news outlets operating there. They found foreign news about China to be too critical and sometimes condescending. In the past, the presence of foreign media was an important indicator of China's willingness to open up and join the international community. Outsiders were hungry for news and information about the world's fastest-growing marketplace.

That was a decade ago. Now China is in a different situation; Beijing does not need to care what outsiders think of it. It has become not only an influential member of the World Trade Organisation, but also a key player in global affairs. After all, China's economy is growing at a break-neck pace and every foreign government is begging to have a piece of the action. But the problem is that the communist leaders in the central government and their proxies in the provinces are still insisting on running the country by keeping it on a short leash.

It's a sad but true fact that Xinhua's huge potential has been misused by the government.

As one of the world's largest news agencies with correspondents in over 130 countries, Xinhua is well placed to showcase the country's openness and creditability as an emerging global power to be reckoned with. Even though it produces hundreds of news items every day around the world in various languages, major newspapers seldom carry them, although Xinhua is widely quoted when it comes to news about the Chinese government's decisions or positions on particular issues.

Xinhua news does not enjoy credibility because it lacks independence and journalistic objectivity.

The Chinese government's attack of paranoia must have something to do with issues such as Taiwan's push for independence, the suppression of civil society groups and the Falun Gong religious sect as well as controversies over its foreign policy. Of late, China's stand on international issues such as Sudan, Burma and Iran have been criticised by foreign news outlets.

All of these crude actions hardly make for good publicity leading up to the 2008 Olympics, which the country will be hosting.

Reverting to control and repression is exposing the kind of weaknesses and vulnerability that is incompatible with China's aspiration towards becoming a global superpower to be taken seriously by the international community.