Google has shut down it China operation.......

Google.com.hk tells users, “Welcome to the new home of Google Search in China.” Users can search the Web, the Chinese-language Web, the Web in simplified Chinese and Web sites from China. Colored dots point to videos, photos, shopping, maps, music, Google translate and a Chinese-language site called 265.

The Chinese have not backed away from it position that any web hosted site in China will abide by its policy of censorship…..

Google has found that unacceptable ……

And voted against the policy with their foot…..by closing its Chinese operation and asking users to switch to its Hong kong Based search engines …….

Very few other companies could …..or would make the economic decission…..

Just over two months after threatening to leave Chinabecause of censorship and intrusions from hackers, Google on Monday closed its Internet search service there and began directing users in that country to its uncensored search engine in Hong Kong.

While the decision to route mainland Chinese users to Hong Kong is an attempt by Google to skirt censorship requirements without running afoul of Chinese laws, it appears to have angered officials in China, setting the stage for a possible escalation of the conflict, which may include blocking the Hong Kong search service in mainland China.

The state-controlled Xinhua news agency quoted an unnamed official with the State Council Information Office describing Google’s move as “totally wrong.”

“Google has violated its written promise it made when entering the Chinese market by stopping filtering its searching service and blaming China in insinuation for alleged hacker attacks,” the official said.

Google declined to comment on its talks with Chinese authorities, but said that it was under the impression that its move would be seen as a viable compromise.

“We got reasonable indications that this was O.K.,” Sergey Brin, a Google founder and its president of technology, said. “We can’t be completely confident.”

Google’s retreat from China, for now, is only partial. In a blog post, Google said it would retain much of its existing operations in China, including its research and development team and its local sales force. While the China search engine, google.cn, has stopped working, Google will continue to operate online maps and music services in China.

Google’s move represents a powerful rejection of Beijing’s censorship but also a risky ploy in which Google, a global technology powerhouse, will essentially turn its back on the world’s largest Internet market, with nearly 400 million Web users.

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[Via http://politicaldog101.com]