China blasts Google amid rising expectations of pullout

Mar 22, 2010, 8:33 GMT

Beijing - State media slammed the US internet giant Google Inc Monday for 'politicizing' a row with the Chinese government amid rising expectations that the US firm could soon announce a decision to shut down its main search engine in China.

The China Daily newspaper said Google had 'suddenly announced it no longer wants to follow the rules it had no trouble following earlier' after operating under China's online restrictions for four years.

'With the United States throwing its weight behind it under the pretext of internet freedom, Google thinks it may have a chance to press the Chinese government into giving its search engine no restriction at all across the border,' the newspaper said in a commentary.

'Business is business, but when it involves political tricks, business will come to an end soon,' the commentary said.

'The more Google politicizes the issue, the less room it leaves for itself for further negotiations,' it said.

The tough rhetoric followed media reports that Google could announce a decision as early as this week to shut down its Chinese search engine from next month.

It remained unclear if the two sides have held talks since Google announced plans in January to review its operations in China after a hacking attack that apparently originated in China.

The Wall Street Journal quoted Google chief executive Eric Schmidt as saying this month that the company was in 'active negotiations' with the Chinese government, but Chinese officials declined to confirm that any talks had taken place.

The Chinese government earlier warned Google that it would have to 'bear the consequence' if it went ahead with a threat to stop censoring search results in China, which has strict government controls on the internet.

In another commentary on Google over the weekend, the official Xinhua news agency said: 'One company's ambition to change China's internet rules will only prove to be ridiculous.'

A second China Daily commentary said Google might 'gain the moral high ground' by citing censorship and hacking as reasons for leaving China, but said there was 'no justification other than foolhardiness for leaving nearly 400 million Chinese netizens behind.'

'This, in addition to the fact that Google knew about the operation environment in China when it first came, makes the company appear aggressive and excitable in engaging in a direct showdown with Beijing, which is known for its history of not budging on anything concerning its rule and sovereignty,' the newspaper said.

Google's chief legal officer, David Drummond, announced in January that the company planned to stop self-censoring its Chinese search engine even if that meant abandoning China's market.

Drummond said Google took the unprecedented step after discovering 'a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China' that took place in December.