At least some of the fuss had died down, but it seems the underlying problems that Google and China seem to have are not showing any signs of disappearing.
A report in the Financial Times is sighting a person “familiar with the company’s thinking” saying that Google has “drawn up detailed plans for the closure of its Chinese search engine” and is “99.9 per cent” certain of closing its China-based search operation.
Although from this news the closure seems almost inevitable, the person familiar with Google’s position said that although the final decision may be taken soon, the actual closure is likely to follow an orderly process over a period of time.
The same ft.com article says that Google is trying to find ways to keep its other ventures in China, though some people within Google feared that the repercussion from Chinese authorities could make that very difficult to realise.
On Friday Chinese minister for industry and information technology, Li Yizhong, said:
“If [Google] takes steps that violate Chinese laws, that would be unfriendly, that would be irresponsible, and they would have to bear the consequences.”
From the outside it seems very difficult to see how this situation can some to a satisfactory resolution for the Mountain View search giant. The Chinese authorities appear to be showing few signs of a change of heart over their net censorship practises. One question must be ‘can Google afford to close its search operation in China?’, the long term implications of closing itself to an already sizeable market must weigh heavily on normally broad shoulders.
..More information can be found in the full article on the Financial Times site.
What do you think of Google’s current stance? Let us know.
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