China Parries Google's Move in Hong Kong
Updated since 12:06 EDT with additional reports.
NEW YORK (
) --
Google's
(GOOG) - Get Report
offshore search switch irked China and set off repercussions for the search giant.
A day after Google
users to its Hong Kong site in a protest of China's censorship rules, China officials condemned the move and began attempts to block access to Google's Hong Kong site, according to reports.
Google China headquarters in Beijing |
"This is totally wrong," said a China Internet official who made the statement via China's
Xinhua News Agency
, according to
AP
. "We're uncompromisingly opposed to the politicization of commercial issues, and express our discontent and indignation to Google for its unreasonable accusations and conducts," the official said.
Google's objection in January to hacking, surveillance and censorship in China has led to a frosty confrontation with Chinese officials over issues of Internet freedom. The stalemate reached the world stage on Monday when Google decided to relocate its mainland China search service to Hong Kong.
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Ken Heebner
Navellier & Associates
Chris Davis
|
From a business perspective, Google currently has proportionally little sales or profit at stake in China, though the long-term potential is hard to deny. But after four years of operation in China, Google has not seen sweeping marketshare gains against its state-approved search rival,
Baidu
(BIDU) - Get Report
.
Politically, Google's attempt to impact change by avoiding censorship guidelines run afoul of China's laws, a point that China has made very clear.
China's response seems to involve censoring search results China users get from Google's Hong Kong site, according to
by
The New York Times
. "Government computers either disabled searches for objectionable content completely or blocked links to certain results," the Times reported. A report by
The Wall Street Journal
indicated Tuesday that the Hong Kong site remained accessible in China, though sensitive content was blocked.
It's also possible that Google could stand to face other penalties including the cancelation of search ad partnerships with China businesses as well as a resistance to Google Android phones due to arrive in China this year.
Google shares were down 2% to $546.70 in midday trading Tuesday.
--Written by Scott Moritz in New York
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