Beijing: China on Tuesday hit back at leading
internet search engine Google, saying its move to stop
censoring web content in the country violated its written
undertaking and warned it against violating rules.
Saying the decision whether to stay or leave China was
Google`s own, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang made
it clear that if the US company wanted to stay in the world`s
largest internet market it would have to follow the country`s
laws and international practices.
"Whether to stay or leave it is Google`s own business and
own decision. If it decides to stay it has to abide by China`s
laws and regulations and if it decides to go it will have to
follow China`s laws and international practices," Qin told a
media briefing here.
Though he did not specify what action Beijing would take
against the California-based company, Qin said the government
was filtering Google`s contents which will "harm the national
security and social interests."
"We have to refrain it (harmful content) from spreading,"
he said.
In a fresh move after a long-drawn war of words, Google
stopped censoring its internet content in China today and
redirected its Chinese users to an uncensored site in Hong
Kong, in retaliation to China`s refusal to restrict censorship
which included intrusive verification of emails of dissidents.
"As internet provider like any other foreign enterprise,
Google has to abide by China`s rules and regulations, like in
any other country," Qin said without directly answering a
question whether China would take retaliatory action.
Google`s move was seen as a prelude to winding up of its
Google.cn operations. Google has also accused China of hacker
attacks.
The American search engine enjoys about 30 per cent of
the 400 million strong Chinese market and the rest controlled
by China`s search engine "Baidu.com".
With Google set to leave, the Microsoft sponsored Bing
was also expected to make a bid to capture China`s market.
Qin also brushed off questions like whether it would hurt
China`s image or destabilise China-US ties.
Google case is just a business case and will not damage
the image of China and to conclude the China-Google friction
would hurt China`s image and China-US relations is just "going
for over kill," he said.
He said China provided a favourable environment to all
the foreign companies to do business but they have to abide by
Chinese laws and regulations.
"The Chinese government encourages and promote
development of internet. In China internet is fully open. We
administer the internet according to law... This is
international practice," he said.
Google`s decision to redirect from main land China to its
unrestricted Hong Kong site may not mean much as its content
has to go through Chinese firewalls and censors.
Google could still be logged on to in Beijing and Gmail
is still very much operational but people trying to log onto
Google.cn had problems as the search engine reportedly shut it
down.
"I have seen it disappearing in the early hours today
soon after the announcement by Google," a journalist attached
to an international channel said.
Though the Google`s announcement came around 3.00 am,
China lost not time to condemn it.
"Google has violated its written promise it made when
entering the Chinese market by stopping filtering its
searching service and blaming China for alleged hacker
attacks," the official in charge of the China Internet bureau
under 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," he said.
Earlier Google announced in its blog that "we stopped
censoring our search services - Google Search, Google News,
and Google Images on Google.cn".
"Users visiting Google.cn are now being redirected to
Google.com.hk, where we are offering uncensored search in
simplified Chinese, specifically designed for users in
mainland China and delivered via our servers in Hong Kong," it
said.
The company said it would continue to conduct research
and development work in China and also continue to operate its
advertising sales teams in the country.
"Figuring out how to make good on our promise to stop
censoring search on Google.cn has been hard," Google`s chief
legal officer David Drummond said.
"We want as many people in the world as possible to have
access to our services, including users in mainland China, yet
the Chinese government has been crystal clear throughout our
discussions that self-censorship is a non-negotiable legal
requirement," he said.
PTI
