MSN Messenger users from several cities in China including Beijing and Shanghai reported Monday afternoon that they could not log on their accounts.

A receptionist of MSN China told Xinhua via phone that the network paralysis was likely related to the earthquake in Taiwan on Monday morning, according to their preliminary estimate.

She said that the undersea cables that support MSN might have been damaged by the quake.

A major earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter Scale hit southeastern Hualien County of Taiwan on 8:05 am Monday, according to the island earthquake monitoring center.

"But we are not sure yet. It's still under further investigation," the receptionist said, who did not give her name.

MSN Messenger appeared paralyzed in Kunming, capital of southwestern province of Yunnan, Jinan, capital of eastern province of Shandong, and Xi'an, capital of northwestern province of Shaanxi, according to messages by Xinhua reporters in different branches across the country on Kaixin001.com, a popular social network website in China.

But it seemed working well in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei province, a Xinhua reporter in Wuhan said.

Netizens in Tokyo, Japan also reported similar paralysis, according to a news piece on 51cto.com said.

MSN China is owned by Microsoft and has millions of users in China.

(China Daily August 18, 2009)