Outrage as Google pulls the plug in China

On its Web site, Google says users of its Chinese language search engine will have access to unfiltered online searches from Hong Kong-based servers. The White House, which had backed Google in its dispute, expressed 'disappointment' that an American company felt compelled to take such a drastic step.

A Times Online report says that the world's largest Internet company has been in talks for two months with Beijing over its threat to shut down its Chinese-language search engine and close its offices rather than kowtow to government censors. It delivered the ultimatum after alleged cyber attacks aimed at its source code and at the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. The company said the attacks originated in China. Business Week reports that Google's decision to redirect Chinese readers hasn't given China's nearly 390m Web surfers more access. Instead, searches that were once censored are no longer available at all. Queries on the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on the main Google.com and the Google.com.hk Web sites aren't executable in China where readers using Microsoft Corp's Internet Explorer are told 'cannot display the Web site' or 'network error'. Searches for a son of President Hu Jintao in connection with a graft case in Namibia are blocked as well. Full Times Online report Full Business Week report

Google said it intends to continue research and development in China, and keep sales staff there. But the Mail & Guardian Online notes that the company is likely to be closely watched by officials, possibly emboldened after months of friction with Washington. Edward Yu, CEO of Analysys International, a Beijing-based research firm specialising in technology issues, is quoted in the report as saying: 'I don't think it's sustainable for Google to conduct rerouting of traffic.' Google had said two months ago that it would quit the mainland market if it were required to continue to submit to censorship after cyber attacks originating in China. In January, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton provoked fierce criticism in China when she said that the attack on Google would have 'consequences' and compared its censorship of the Internet to the Berlin Wall. China responded by branding her remarks as 'information imperialism'. According to a Times Online report, China's Government also issued a similar warning to Australia over the arrest of four Rio Tinto executives accused of bribery and industrial espionage, stating that the row should not be politicised. Full Mail & Guardian Online report Full Times Online report

China said Google had violated a 'written promise' and was 'totally wrong' to end censorship of its Chinese-language search portal. It accused Google of violating the terms of the agreement it made when it opened its self-censored Chinese search engine in 2006. An official in charge of the Internet Bureau of the State Council Information Office said: 'This is totally wrong. We're uncompromisingly opposed to the politicisation of commercial issues, and express our discontent and indignation to Google for its unreasonable accusations and conducts.' According to a report on the IoL site, the State Council Information Office is the government arm of China's propaganda apparatus and is among several agencies overseeing Internet policy for the ruling Communist Party. China censors the Internet by requiring domestic operators to use filters to screen out banned images and words, and also operates a 'firewall' to frustrate users trying to access overseas Web sites that are deemed unacceptable. Another report on the IoL site says young Chinese professionals working in Beijing's main IT hub expressed a mixture of regret, anger and surprise at the move. For many educated, and especially young, Chinese, Google has been a well-loved Web site, even if homegrown rival Baidu dominates the overall domestic market. 'It's a regrettable decision,' said Chen Wen, who works in finance in Beijing's Zhongguancun IT district where Google has its China headquarters. 'I think it was inevitable though. The government was never going to compromise on filtering.' First report on the IoL site Second report on the IoL site

China's state-run Xinhua news agency also launched a new broadside against Google, saying in an angry commentary that the company had reneged on promises to abide by Chinese law. Xinhua, in a signed commentary, said Google had promised when it entered the Chinese market to filter its search engine for 'harmful content', in accordance with the law. 'Now Google suddenly wants to break its promise, and if it's not satisfied it will criticise China for a worsening of the investment environment,' Xinhua said. 'This is entirely unreasonable. What has changed is not China's investment environment. It is Google itself.' According to a Mail & Guardian Online report, the burst of angry Chinese comments suggested that, in spite of the widespread popularity of Google among educated Chinese, the government is steering state-run media and Web sites to lump the company together with other recent disputes with Washington that have stirred nationalist rancour in China. BBC News reports that Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Qin Gang said Google's move was an isolated act by a commercial company and should not affect China-US ties 'unless politicised' by others. The government would handle the Google case 'according to the law', he added. Chen Yafei, a Chinese IT specialist, said Google should have accepted Chinese regulation if it wanted to operate in the country. 'Any company entering China should abide by Chinese laws,' he said. 'Google has its own credos. The fighting between Google and the Chinese government is their own business. Chinese Internet users will have no regrets if Google withdraws.' Full Mail & Guardian Online report Full BBC News report