Facebook, Twitter and other websites were once seen as sensitive sites by the Chinese government. The South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday that Facebook and Twitter along with other sites online would be made accessible in a planned free-trade zone (FTZ) in Shanghai.

The idea of unblocking websites in the FTZ was to make foreigners "feel like at home", the South China Morning Post quoted a government source as saying. "If they can't get onto Facebook or read The New York Times, they may naturally wonder how special the free-trade zone is compared with the rest of China," the source said.

Unidentified government sources were cited in the report. The Hong Kong newspaper also reported that authorities would welcome bids from foreign telecoms companies for licenses to provide Internet services in the zone.

The Communist Party in China had censored the Internet. The government had routinely deleting online postings and blocking access to websites that it had deemed politically sensitive or inappropriate.

A spokesman for Facebook said the company had no comment on the newspaper report. No one at Twitter or the New York Times was immediately available to comment. 

In 2012, Facebook Inc. generated USD5.1 billion in revenue and USD53 million in net income. The company also had USD11.75 total equity in 2012 and total assets valued USD15.10 billion. Based on its USD5.1 billion income last year, Facebook joined the Fortune 500 list for the first time.