Under pressure from the U.S. government, the global tech industry and its own citizens, the Chinese government has delayed a controversial mandate set to kick in Wednesday that would require all new personal computers to be loaded with Web-filtering software capable of blocking pornography and objectionable political sites.

The move tamps down, at least temporarily, a fire storm of criticism in China and around the world that threatened to create a trade dispute between the Obama Administration and Beijing. China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology did not say how long the delay would last but said PC makers needed more time to meet the new regulation.

Some China experts think the announced delay was a face-saving measure and that the bungled decree will be scrapped. But none predict that the government will abandon efforts to censor the Internet.

The Chinese government has insisted the software is a tool for parents to prevent children from viewing pornography and other offensive Internet Web sites. But civil liberty activists, international tech associations and the U.S. government, as well as many Chinese bloggers, oppose the measure.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Ron Kirk, the United States trade representative, sent a letter to the Chinese government to protest the mandate, which they said could violate World Trade Organization rules. In another letter, 22 international business organizations, including the U.S.

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