Google's threat to abandon its activities in China if not censorship has softened in trouble to the Chinese regime, which still keeps a tight control of content despite the growing unease of the Chinese Internet.
"I want to emphasize that China's Internet is open and that the Government encourages the development and implementation of the network and makes efforts to create an environment for it flattering," said the spokesman of Foreign Ministry, Jiang Yu , who turned to throw balls away when asked about the havoc caused giant.
"I also want to emphasize that China welcomes international Internet companies that do business in China in accordance with the law," he replied.
Chinese law is the same as that Google landed in 2000 in the Asian giant, although it was not until 2005 when he received a license to open google.cn, the local version that is now threatening to close.
Beijing's approval came just after U.S. giant, world-dominating search engines, putting your eyes in China, the world's largest potential market for almost a decade.
With the ambition of reaching over 360 million Internet users officially sailing from China, the California company bowed to Beijing's orders to limit links to topics considered "sensitive", among which include human rights, dissent, Tibet, Xinjiang and the events in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
This limitation in search engines, which also apply local engines like Baidu (over 60 percent market share in China), is one of the main tools of the "Great Wall" of the Internet, a complex system of control Live Internet developed by the Chinese regime.
According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), one of the most belligerent organizations with Chinese censors practices, in 2009 the only content protection campaign ended with more than 5,000 people arrested and blocking almost 10,000 websites.
"We can only welcome the courage of Google executives. At last a foreign internet company has accepted its responsibilities towards the Chinese Internet and stands against the authorities," RSF said in a statement.
The case raised a storm widespread among Chinese netizens, who are torn between nationalistic pride critical of Google, whom they accuse of being the figurehead of American influence-to the request to the authorities for a more flexible posture to avoid isolation the rest of the world.
"This is Google pulling out of China, China is retreating from the rest of the world," China presents an anonymous blogger, under the initials CXZJ.
"The decision (to Google) is torn between justice and money," says Liuye Daomei, another blogger in Hexun Chinese portal, which also warns that a hypothetical withdrawal of signature technology could be the fuse for igniting the conflict between Washington and Beijing.
Indeed, the alignment of the Obama administration, the words of its Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and the solidarity of other companies such as Yahoo! with U.S. firm could only increase suspicions in China.
However, experts do not consider at all the havoc caused by misleading the firm founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin to the Chinese authorities.
"Google has been in a difficult situation in China has long been betraying his philosophy and although it has generated benefits have not been as many as potentially could be expected," summarizes Efe Mark Natkin, director of technology consulting Marbridge Consulting, based in Beijing.
In addition to financial results, Google has seen it fall, victims of the blockade, his bets like Youtube or Finder imagesearch photographs.
"I can not imagine a scenario in which the Chinese Government reconsider its position on the internet, but I can imagine one where Google leaves China," concludes Natkin, who bet that the withdrawal form local staff in China-some 700 employees-and is limited to maintain the international version of your page.
For now, Google headquarters in Beijing morning with dozens of flowers left by the Internet around the logo in solidarity with the request the lifting of censorship, though, depending on the government's decision also could become a posthumous farewell sign to the wanderings of the company in China.
No comments:
Post a Comment