Google defiant in threat to pull out of China over censorship

GOOGLE’S threat to pull out of China over censorship is a rare display of defiance in a system where foreign companies have long accepted intrusive controls to gain access to a huge and growing market.

Dismayed by the prospect of a China without Google, visitors left flowers at its Beijing headquarters yesterday as websites buzzed with words of support and appeals to stay.

“I felt it’s a pity and hope it will not withdraw from the Chinese market,” said a man who left flowers at the building in the hi-tech Haidian district and would give only his surname, Chang. “Google played a key role in the growth of our generation. The control (of the internet) is excessive.”

In industries from auto-making to fast food, companies have been forced to allow communist authorities to influence – and sometimes dictate – their choice of local partners, where to operate and what products to sell.

Web companies have endured criticism for co-operating with a communist system that tightly controls information. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and others have acceded to pressure to block access to politically sensitive material.

“The internet is like media, and the media are under tight government control, so that poses additional challenges for foreign Internet companies compared with, say, manufacturers of TV sets, mobile phones or autos,” said Edward Yu, president of Analysys International, an internet research firm in Beijing.

Google’s decision even to talk publicly was rare in a system where Chinese officials react angrily to criticism.

Officials have wide regulatory discretion and companies avoid saying anything that might prompt retaliation.

China’s foreign ministry and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology did not respond to requests for comment, but the state Xinhua News Agency cited an official as saying the government was seeking more information from Google.

China has the world’s most-populous internet market, with 338 million people online as of June, and foreign internet companies eager for their share.

But despite risking damage to their reputations by co-operating with the government, they have struggled to make headway against intense competition from Chinese rivals. Yahoo, eBay Inc. and others have given up and turned over control of their China operations to local partners. Google is the last global Internet company to manage its own China arm.