Google is close to an exit from China, following a feud with the country’s government over censorship, according to a new report. The Financial Times quotes a source familiar with the matter that the search giant’s proposed departure from China is now “99% certain” to go ahead. Google has been embroiled in an ongoing feud […]
Google is close to an exit from China, following a feud with the country’s government over censorship, according to a new report. The Financial Times quotes a source familiar with the matter that the search giant’s proposed departure from China is now “99% certain” to go ahead.
Google has been embroiled in an ongoing feud with the Chinese government since mid-January, when an executive announced on the company’s official blog that it was no longer willing to censor search results in the country, as required by local authorities, following a cyberattack on its intellectual property. At the time, it admitted that this could result in the company pulling out of the Chinese market. The company has since continued to filter results on google.cn, but says it will not do so forever.
16/03/2010
“Google is firm in its decision that it will stop censoring our search results for China,” Google vice president and deputy general counsel Nicole Wong told the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee last week.
“If the option is that we’ll shutter our .cn operation and leave the country, we are prepared to do that.”
Commenting on the FT reports, Google China spokeswoman Marsha Wang said Tuesday that, for now, no changes had been made.
“Google has not stopped censorship. This is a rumour. We do not have any update to share,” she told AFP.
At present, Google is a distant second in terms of numbers of Chinese users, holding approximately 36% of market share, compared to local player Baidu’s 58%, according to statistics from Beijing-based researcher Analysis International.
Today China again warned Google not to stop filtering its web search engine results.
“We have all along maintained a policy of opening-up and welcome foreign investments in China. But the prerequisite is they should respect and abide by Chinese laws,” commerce ministry spokesman Yao Jian told reporters.
“We hope Google will abide by the law, no matter whether it continues to do business in China or makes other choices.”
Yao said if Google were to decide to shut down its businesses registered in Beijing, it would have to notify the commerce ministry — and so far, no such notice had been received.
The spokesman also said Beijing was “opposed to politicising business issues” — an apparent jibe at the US government and lawmakers who have spoken out on behalf of Google and against Internet censorship in China.
www.google.cn
