Google to shut China engine

March 15, 2010 - PRLog -- According to the Financial Times newspaper, Google is now 99.9% certain to pull out of the Chinese market as the talks over censorship with the Chinese authorities have reached a dead end. The Chinese government warned that it is not prepared to compromise on internet censorship to stop Google from leaving. Li Yizhong, Minister for Industry and Information Technology said on Friday: “If [Google] takes steps that violate Chinese laws, that would be unfriendly, that would be irresponsible, and they would have to bear the consequences”. On the other hand, Eric Schmidt, Google’s Chief Executive, confirmed that they still hope to stay in the country: “It’s very important to know we are not pulling out of China… We have a good business in China. This is about the censorship rules, not anything else.”

Mr. Li has also encouraged the American giant to continue its operations in the country: “If you don’t leave, China will welcome that, if you don’t leave, it will be beneficial for the development of the internet in China.”

Besides Google.cn, the company also has different operations that include a research center in Beijing and a sales force, based outside China, which sells advertising on the Chinese language Google.com search service to advertisers inside the country

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