Yahoo says it wants help from the Bush administration, "in urging China to allow more media freedom".

Yahoo has been deeply implicated in a number of cases where Chinese people using its services have been thrown into jail but, it had to comply with local laws, Reuters has Yahoo chairman and ceo Terry Semel saying.

Recently, Wang Xiaoning received a 10-year jail sentence for supposedly distributing material by email and through Yahoo! Groups he'd established anonymously in mainland China and Hong Kong.

He, "repeatedly suffered physical abuse in detention between September 2002 and February 2004," says Human Rights in China (HRIC).

But, "Governments change governments," states Semel, the ex-chairman of Warner Bros, in a Reuters quote. "Governments who are in trade together can certainly change governments. We tried and we are going to continue to try as an industry to have our government help us."

Also See:
Reuters - Yahoo turns to Washington for help on China, May 3, 2006
10-year jail sentence - Yahoo in 4th China jail scandal, April 28, 2006