Google still in talks despite closure rumors
By Melanie Lee and Chris Buckley |
March 16, 2010, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
Google said yesterday it remained in talks with Chinese government officials about censorship of its Chinese-language search portal, despite signs the company could soon shut the site.
Google, the world's biggest search engine, has been in a two-month standoff with the Chinese government over restrictions on the Internet.
The company has also claimed that it and other firms have been attacked by hacking from within China.
Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said last week that he hoped to announce soon an outcome from talks with Chinese officials on offering an uncensored search engine in a country of 384 million Internet users.
Firm forecast
At the weekend, the Financial Times reported that the talks had reached an impasse and that Google was "99.9 percent" certain to shut its Chinese search engine, Google.cn.
"Our forecast has always remained firm that once Google announced it would not accept censorship, then it was nearly impossible to imagine a scenario either where Google didn't act on that or the government accepted their position," Mark Natkin, managing director of Marbridge Consulting, told Reuters.
Marbridge Consulting is a Beijing-based company that advises on the IT and telecommunications sectors in China.
A Google spokesperson said yesterday that talks with Chinese authorities had not ended, but added that the company was adamant about not accepting self-censorship.
"We've been very clear that we are no longer going to self-censor our search results," said the spokesperson, who requested anonymity.
"We are in active discussions with the Chinese government, but we are not going to engage in a running commentary about those conversations."
News reports both at home and abroad, however, have reflected growing signs that Google could soon acknowledge that its effort to free up its Chinese Website faces a unsolvable deadlock and the company will prepare to shut it down.
A critical commentary on the Website of the Xinhua news agency appeared to assume that Google's pullout was a certainty. "The planet won't stop spinning because Google leaves, and Chinese Internet users will remain online without Google," said the Chinese-language comment issued on Sunday.
Google was likely to move in careful steps intended to minimize any risks and disruption to its staff and continued activities in China, said Natkin.
The head of a research firm in Beijing, whose company is working with Google on a project, told Reuters it was likely a Google research and development team would stay in China.
"Google and our staff had communications on product development, so the R&D side is going okay," he said.
Google, the world's biggest search engine, has been in a two-month standoff with the Chinese government over restrictions on the Internet.
The company has also claimed that it and other firms have been attacked by hacking from within China.
Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said last week that he hoped to announce soon an outcome from talks with Chinese officials on offering an uncensored search engine in a country of 384 million Internet users.
Firm forecast
At the weekend, the Financial Times reported that the talks had reached an impasse and that Google was "99.9 percent" certain to shut its Chinese search engine, Google.cn.
"Our forecast has always remained firm that once Google announced it would not accept censorship, then it was nearly impossible to imagine a scenario either where Google didn't act on that or the government accepted their position," Mark Natkin, managing director of Marbridge Consulting, told Reuters.
Marbridge Consulting is a Beijing-based company that advises on the IT and telecommunications sectors in China.
A Google spokesperson said yesterday that talks with Chinese authorities had not ended, but added that the company was adamant about not accepting self-censorship.
"We've been very clear that we are no longer going to self-censor our search results," said the spokesperson, who requested anonymity.
"We are in active discussions with the Chinese government, but we are not going to engage in a running commentary about those conversations."
News reports both at home and abroad, however, have reflected growing signs that Google could soon acknowledge that its effort to free up its Chinese Website faces a unsolvable deadlock and the company will prepare to shut it down.
A critical commentary on the Website of the Xinhua news agency appeared to assume that Google's pullout was a certainty. "The planet won't stop spinning because Google leaves, and Chinese Internet users will remain online without Google," said the Chinese-language comment issued on Sunday.
Google was likely to move in careful steps intended to minimize any risks and disruption to its staff and continued activities in China, said Natkin.
The head of a research firm in Beijing, whose company is working with Google on a project, told Reuters it was likely a Google research and development team would stay in China.
"Google and our staff had communications on product development, so the R&D side is going okay," he said.
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