Google stops censoring its Chinese-language portal
March 23, 2010
From now on, Internet users in mainland China will automatically be diverted to google.com.hk when they click on their Google page. HK for Hong Kong, which is not subjected to the same censorship regulations as the communist mainland.
The internet user Ren was delighted with Google’s latest move that she thought was "really clever. This way, they'll still have their Chinese-language search machine. So they're not shutting down completely."
However, Victor Gao from the China National Association of International Studies disagreed, saying it was "up to the Chinese government to decide what it wants to do and I don’t think the Chinese government will bend."
Google's move comes at a time when US-Chinese relations are already extremely tense because of a number of issues, from currency reform to US weapons sales to Taiwan.
Chinese government opposes politicization of commercial issues
As soon as Google announced its decision in the middle of the night local time, Chinese state media broadcast Beijing's official reaction.
"The Chinese government insists that foreign companies abide by Chinese laws and regulations while operating in the country. Google has violated the written promise that it made on entering the Chinese market by evading China’s internet laws. We firmly oppose politicizing commercial issues."
When Google launched its Chinese website in 2006, it agreed to use filters, block certain words and images according to the wishes of the censors. However in January 2010, it announced it would no longer allow searches to be censored after becoming the victim of sophisticated cyber attacks.
Firewall continues to deny access to sensitive sites
Despite its latest move, Google said on Tuesday it was aware that China's government could block access to services including Google search, news and images at any time. Beijing’s firewall filters all content reaching the mainland.
Ren explained that she had tried to access some sensitive sites in vain: "We can’t open any censored sites via the Hong Kong version. If you put in words like Tiananmen Incident you get lots of results but can’t open the pages."
Google's business could suffer
So, ordinary internet users in China might not notice much of a difference. However, Google itself could suffer huge losses in business and advertisement revenues. The Hong Kong-based online internet company, TOM, that runs online and mobile internet services in mainland China announced on Tuesday it would no longer use Google’s search services.
Google's market share in China is about 35 percent – not at much as it hoped for when it first opened its site in the communist country but still considerable.
Some 380 million Chinese are now online and the number continues to grow at a rapid pace. The potential of China's future online advertisement market is huge and Google does not want to miss out. It will reportedly keep sales staff in China and continue research and development.
However, online rumors have it that Google's arch-rival Microsoft is planning to conquer the market with its Chinese-language search engine Bing.
Author: Anne ThomasEditor: Thomas Baerthlein