Google Chinese exit raises questions
The drama between Google and Chinese authorities is still playing itself out in the aftermath of the decision that the world’s largest search engine made to terminate its Chinese service due to their dismay over the government’s censorship demands. Google is being negatively impacted from a bottom line standpoint in a number of ways due to their Chinese closure, and there could be more to come, so you have to give them a lot of credit for doing something that nobody ever does in the realm of big business. That is, do the right thing even if it costs you some money to do so.
People who try to conduct Google searches in China are being redirected to the company’s uncensored Hong Kong based site, google.com.hk. The government has firewalls in place that will still prevent users from seeing the censored sites. The question concerning whether or not the Chinese government will allow Google to do business in the country outside of the realm of providing a censored version of its search engine. Bill Bishop is a Beijing-based pundit who offered this analysis of the move:
“The Chinese are very serious about pushing their soft-power agenda. Google just put a big hole in that sales pitch, and I think they know that. So the idea that Google can take out its search business and leave everything else, and China will just forgive and forget — that’s very much not how the Chinese government works.”
To read more on this story, click here: