There are some mixed signals emerging from China in regard to Google’s threat to pull out of the country – some of them quite startling. Below are three articles on the issue published in state-controlled newspapers over the past three days.
The first article by Li Hongmei of the People’e Daily is what one would have expected. Li Hongmei charges that by threatening to leave China due to censorship and hacking, Google is acting as an agent of the United States and a representative of American multinationals, who pose a threat to the sovereignty of all countries they operate in.
For the People’s Daily, Li Hongmei writes in part:
As a representative of multinationals, the company is somewhat irreplaceable. … That explains why U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently summoned CEOs of some of the elite information companies to encourage them to contribute more to the United States, and intentionally inspire them to side with America, regardless of who they are and what their corporate culture is. For the sake of U.S. political interests and the “democracy-is-always-best” mantra, Google stands out for its “threat” against China as a sovereign state, even going so far as to challenge its judicial sovereignty, core interests and social system. … To some extent, the “Google threat” also sounds a warning bell to any sovereign state over which, from now on, huge U.S. multinationals would seek to wield their tremendous market clout. These firms pose such a threat anywhere they set up operations. And multinationals may also be involved in international disputes and act as tools perfectly suited for political interference. “
A day later, in a surprising editorial from China’s Global Times headlined “Google-China Split Would
Be a Loss for ‘Both Sides,’” the newspaper appears to warn the authorities to reconsider censorship:
While other search engines, Chinese and foreign, would predictably grab a slice of the business abandoned by Google, the Internet giant’s inability to localize and tackle difficulties in China would be an incalculable loss to its long-term commitment to innovation.
The information highway demands not only safe driving but also free flow of traffic. And, in the interests of the majority’s right to know, free flow of information should take precedence in a civil society.
In a transitional society like China, the existence of censorship can be justified as allowing full play to multifarious and disorderly search results poses unprecedented risks to vulnerable netizens and social stability. But the government must face up to the challenge of where and how to put the checkpoints on the highway.
Finally, the China Daily openly admits that the controversy has actually boosted Google in the country:
Google’s brand awareness among Chinese users has soared after the company announced last week that it may pull out of the country, according to a domestic research firm.
Edward Yu, president of domestic research firm Analysis International, told China Daily yesterday that his company has sensed a significant growth of search inquiries for Google.
“The search inquiries for Google have seen a great rise during the past few days in China and a large number of them came from third- and fourth-tier cities, where previously few people know about the company,” said Yu.
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