China Slams Google Over Anti-Censorship Move

(March 23) -- An indignant China lashed out at Google's decision to stop censoring users of its China-based search engine, calling the move "totally wrong" and accusing the Internet company of violating its promises.

Google announced Monday it would no longer filter results on China-based Google.cn and would redirect users to its uncensored site in Hong Kong -- effectively closing down its mainland Chinese site. The move went into effect early this morning China time.

It's the latest in a tit-for-tat row between Google and Beijing over censorship of the Internet. Google says it's among more than 20 U.S.-based companies that have fallen victim to sophisticated cyber attacks traced to China.

That Google would choose to shift from mainland China -- the world's biggest Internet market -- rather than be complicit with censorship deals a powerful blow to China's international image. One of the world's largest Internet companies is essentially declaring it won't be cooperate with China's efforts to censor the medium.

The move comes amid heightened tensions between China and the United States over everything from Internet freedom and the yuan exchange rate to economic sanctions on Iran and U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan.

But a spokesman for China's foreign ministry, Qin Gang, told reporters today in Beijing that Google's move wouldn't affect China's relations with Washington. "I don't see it influencing Sino-U.S. relations unless some people want to politicize it," he said.

More than two months ago, Google's threat to shut down its Chinese site sparked a diplomatic spat with Beijing that drew comments from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who singled out China in urging worldwide Internet freedom.

Qin called Google's shift an isolated act by a commercial company and said China would handle the case "according to the law."

But the reaction among unidentified officials quoted by Chinese state media was less subtle. "Google has violated its written promise it made when entering the Chinese market by stopping filtering its searching service and blaming China in insinuation for alleged hacker attacks," a top official in the Chinese agency that regulates the Internet told the state-run Xinhua news agency.

"This is totally wrong. We're uncompromisingly opposed to the politicization of commercial issues, and express our discontent and indignation to Google for its unreasonable accusations and conducts," the unnamed official was quoted as saying.

For the average Web surfer on mainland China, the change is hardly noticeable. Users are redirected from Google.cn to Google.com.hk, where searches for sensitive topics like the Dalai Lama or Tiananmen Square won't be blocked as on the mainland site.

Google's chief legal officer, David Drummond, wrote in a blog post Monday that providing uncensored searches by directing Chinese users to Google.com.hk is "a sensible solution to the challenges we've faced."

"It's entirely legal and will meaningfully increase access to information for people in China. We very much hope that the Chinese government respects our decision, though we are well aware that it could at any time block access to our services," Drummond wrote.

The effect of Google's shift to Hong Kong on its future business prospects in China remain unknown. Hong Kong is a former British colony that's now a special administrative region of China, which enjoys more freedoms, including uncensored Internet access, than in mainland China.

But the Chinese government still has the power to retaliate by blocking Google's services, much as it has completely shut off YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. China has an estimated 350 million Internet users.

This is not the end of the saga, it's just the end of the chapter," Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Financial, told Reuters. "You sort of make China look like the bad guy and you think you're going to be selling Google phones? Good luck, we'll see how that goes."