“The Chinese government and the Chinese people have been working in real earnest to honor the commitments made to the international community,” said President Hu Jintao.

The announcement follows a series of “overnight talks” with the International Olympic Committee, which previously said that it was “embarrassed” last week when it announced it was unable to honor its promise of a free, open internet to Olympic guests and reporters.

The decision to offer an open internet does not appear to have any effect on the reported mandate issued against foreign-owned hotels last week, which requires them to install traffic monitoring software to spy on guests’ internet usage.

While a number of politically sensitive websites are still blocked in China, the websites that have been unblocked – including Amensty International, Human Rights Watch, and the BBC’s Chinese language service, according to The Guardian – appear to be available throughout most of the country.  This, combined with remarks from Chinese bloggers and network engineers, suggests that the country is either ill-equipped to alter its filters for a specific client list, or that it is simply preferable to do so for the entire country.

Tests by The Guardian indicates that a number of topics remain blocked in China, including many pages pertaining to the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, the Falun Gong movement, Tibet, or Chinese dissidents.