China firm in allowing Google to exit from its market

By China Watcher

I applaud the strong stand taken by the Chinese government in dealing with company that is conniving and sleeping with human rights activists in the name of business.

Here is the text from the Chinese media and obviously this type of news would not get published in the Western media.

It is up to Google to decide whether to withdraw from China or continue to stay, Li Yizhong, minister of industry and information technology, said Friday.
Li made the remarks in response to questions about Google's suspenseful "quiting China" claim at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual parliament session.
Google, the world's largest Internet search engine, said in January it was considering leaving China because of censoring requirements and alleged hacker attacks.
However, there had been no major actions or further comments from Google until its vice president Nicole Wong urged the U.S. Congress Wednesday in a hearing to put pressure on countries scrutinizing Internet contents, saying the company was firm in the decision to "stop censoring our search results for China" and that it was "prepared" to leave the country if that was the option.

"If Google decides to stay in China, we welcome and it will help boost the development of the country's Internet industry," Li said. "The company is welcome to expand its business and market share in the country."
"If it decides to quit, we will follow our procedures," he said, adding that Google's quit, if it does so, will have no major influence on China's Internet market, which will continue its fast expansion momentum.

The company, which entered China in 2007, now accounts for more than 30 percent of the country's search engine market, according to Li.

"I hope Google can abide by China's laws and regulations," he said. "It is irresponsible and unfriendly if Google insists in doing something that goes against China's laws and regulations, and it will have to bear the consequence for doing so."

The minister said China's Internet environment is open and administered in line with the country's laws. "Internet administration is not a special case in China as all countries regulate networks according to their own laws."

I believe the Chinese government is just being courteous and that they do not want to be seen as an aggressor which may prompt those human rights activists to lodge a report at the World Trade Organization for unfair trade practices or rules. If they leave on their own accord, it is their own will.

Bravo, China.

Google stop talking, Get out of China now

By China Watcher

If Google is sincere on its wishes to not allow the censoring of its filter results, then get of China and don’t talk so much. I think all Chinese people would be glad that they are really acting on their threat or threats. If they move out, we welcome it and it helps China to weed out those unscrupulous and insincere US corporate from the Chinese market.

I have always stated if the US companies refused to obey Chinese laws then moved out and stop trying to use excuses and delaying tactics to promote its stay in China. China does not welcome such companies. In fact, these companies need China more. If these companies want to succumb to the wish of its democratic activists then by all means “pack your bags” and get out of China. If I am given a say in the China’s Foreign Investment Committee, I would without hesitation issue a “deportation order” to Google telling them to ship out immediately for not subscribing to Chinese laws.

I am truly sad that a top Google executive of Chinese descent is willing to stoop so low to face a bunch of anti-China US lawmakers and informing them that the Internet giant is prepared to leave China if Beijing continues to censor its Web searches. China has already stated that it will NOT bend to the whims and fancies of a US corporate or to pacify them to stay. So why is Google still waiting. GET OUT NOW AND STOP MAKING NOISES. WE ARE FED UP!

Nicole Wong or whatever her name is should be labeled a “traitor” to the Chinese people by succumbing to Western ideologies and discarding her Chinese beliefs and cultural roots where throughout many age old governance practices that relied on the acceptance of changes but it must be gradual, controlled and within a code of laws to ensure that the nation is stable without affecting the livelihood of the 1.3 billion Chinese.

Google threatened in January to leave China over what it said were mid-December cyberattacks aimed at its source code and at the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists around the world. If they are so strong in its human rights BELIEF, then why do Google still continue to filter results on its Chinese search engine, Google.cn, and posted ads for dozens of positions in China, which has the world's largest number of online users at 384 million. They should be preparing to leave China.

With regards to the hundreds of employees that Google has hired, the Chinese authorities can easily request its local Internet companies like Baidu to absorb them. I was informed that there are already head hunters on the instructions of the local companies to tap those workers expected to be retrenched by Google.

If Google is not going to change its decision then why stay in China and issues more threats. It makes no sense.

A US Congresswoman correctly put it “we welcomed Google's commitment to stop censoring search results in China but, unfortunately Google has yet to follow through on and to stop self-censoring”. In other words, when do they execute its threat(s).

To make everyone happy, there is only one solution, PLEASE MOVE OUT NOW!

China must develop a clear effective punishment strategy to ward off continuous Western leaders meeting with the Dalai Lama

By China Watcher

Every time there is a meeting of foreign leaders with the Dalai Lama, the Chinese government representing the 1.3 billion Han Chinese would lodge “solemn representations” and diplomatic protest to the ambassador of that country. The Western governments are fully aware of such a reaction and were able to minimize the fallout in the bilateral ties by choosing to make it less official, thus rendering such move as ineffective.

A “low-key meeting” with the Dalai Lama is still a MEETING regardless of whether it less formal as the West chooses to describe it. The symbolic gesture of a handshake or “pat on the back” is what the Dalai Lama and its hordes of rebels in Northern India would call it as a political or moral support that they truly believe would keep whatever hopes alive (in the exiled political base and elsewhere) to seek secession from the Chinese motherland.

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader is a wily fox. The Tibetan exiles in Daramsala are going all out to ensure that he gets all the respect from the West to attain its objectives of “full independence” from the Han Chinese.

The meeting by foreign leaders with the Dalai Lama is actually a “slap in the face” for all Chinese, both in China (1.3 billion) and overseas Chinese (100 million) throughout the world. A Tibetan commented that a Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to a Tibetan numbering only 6 million and there is no Nobel Prize for even a single Han Chinese numbering almost 1.5 billion! If this is not a slap on the face of the Han Chinese, I really do not know how to phrase it differently. Human rights activists of Chinese origins, I am asking you to wake up from your slumber and not become a tool of the Western governments.

If the Western governments recognizes that the “one-China” policy espoused by China and that Tibet and Taiwan is part of the People Republic (as always in its official joint statement), then how come they conveniently and ever willing to meet up with such outcast “figures” who are deemed not representative of the people. The meeting of such “Western glorified figures” will only promotes a harden stance from the exiles to accept a national reconciliation. What happens if Chinese leaders choose to meet up with the Governor of Hawaii and supported his move to secede from the United States of America?

The Dalai Lama says he is merely seeking greater autonomy but I have seen through his actions and the demands at the talks that he is asking for “almost full autonomy” – the independency to control foreign affairs and religious matters, which I do not think any central government would readily agree to. Just ask the Russian or Canadian governments whether they agree to allow the province of Chechen and Quebec such federal control actions?

If the Tibetans refuse to accept Chinese leadership, then a more radical approach is needed. The movement of Han Chinese to Tibet and Qinghai over the past decade would help to break up any tracts of Tibetan objection to integration. National integration of the 56 ethnic races in China should not be taken as an act to wipe out the cultures and traditions of the minorities. In fact, in festivities across China, all the 56 cultures and its associated traditions are promoted openly and accepted by the Han Chinese. I am fully supportive to preserve the 56 different cultures and dances of its people. The diversity of its cultures and traditions is what makes China an interesting place to explore and live in. Chinese civilization is 3000 years old and the Han Chinese can wait for another 500 years if need to promote national reconciliation and integration.

China reaction towards Western persistence to meet with unacceptable Chinese separatists and rebels must be effective. Chinese leverage against the West at this moment is quite limited as the economy is still largely dependent on the Western demand for its goods. Even Chinese’s holdings in US Treasury bonds are not that big to put the chill on the US economists. China did in fact reduce its holdings of US Treasuries to US$755.4 billion in November, seen by some analysts as a sign of protest at US policies but it is not an effective tool.

I have always emphasized that it is very critical for the Chinese to diversify its markets away from the West and to develop strategies to grow its own internal consumption. It should also explore military alliances with friendly countries and to continue to develop more sophisticated weapons, not to fight a war, but to increase its bargaining chip at the negotiation table in the near future.

The world should not be dominated by the West.

Microsoft is a true friend of the Chinese

By China Watcher

Bill Gates, one of the co-founders of the very well known Microsoft, was criticized by the Western media for playing down the issue of Google exit from China. The philanthropist was probably referred by most people as a world’s entrepreneur who represents aggressive US capitalism that is not so appealing. He was praised for his ingenious inventions and ideas but is criticized for not supporting the Western initiated fights to free up the Internet society in China.

So it remains very clear that Google fight (with the undivided US government support) with the Chinese authorities is not about illegal intrusion on its servers, but more so to do with the unfettered availability of news, information and material which runs counter to the values of the Chinese people.

Gates disapproved of his rival's decision and insisted that agreeing to Beijing's demands was just part of doing business in the country. In an interview on ABC’s Good Morning America programme, he said "You've got to decide: do you want to obey the laws of the countries you're in or not? If not, you may not end up doing business there”. He also brushed aside accusations that Microsoft has been complicit in helping filter the web by saying that it was not an issue because any censorship could be circumvented with technical knowledge. "Chinese efforts to censor the internet have been very limited," he said. "It's easy to go around it, so I think keeping the internet thriving there is very important."

Last week, Microsoft chief executive, Steve Ballmer, bombarded Google by suggesting that the company had over-reacted in China. He said that people are always trying to break into other people's data and that there's always somebody trying to break into Microsoft. Ballmer also likened Microsoft's complicity in actively filtering internet content to the oil industry's decision to import oil from Saudi Arabia, despite the censorship that takes place there. "If the Chinese government gives us proper legal notice, we'll take that piece of information out of the Bing search engine," adding that even countries with "extreme" free speech laws, such as the US, exercised some censorship.

The direct censorship of news relating to Falun Gong religious group, Tibetan independence campaigners and Xinjiang’s East Turkestan is important to safeguard China’s security and ensuring that China does not fall apart like the former Soviet Union.

BBC and the Guardian, have always complained that their websites have been blocked in China but as Gates said that there is always a way around it and Chinese surfers are an ingenious lot and I believe that whatever the Chinese wants to read, they would be able to do so…. only that the Western ways of doing things might not be so appealing to them.

Thank you Microsoft, you are a true friend of the Chinese people, both in China and abroad.

Singapore’s Straits Times playing up the importance of Western influence

By China Watcher

It is not surprising to me anymore that a small nation state or a tiny blot in South East Asia is willing to go all the way to shoulder the US imperialist activities in this part of the region.

In a recent article published in its government controlled Straits Times, the writer tried to play up the importance of Google in the world. To him, Google is as powerful as a sovereign state. Huh! Really! Google is just another US company subjected to US laws and it a tool for the US to use in promoting its Western based style of freedom, cultures and brand of human rights.

Google has been trying to paint a negative light of China that it does not follow universal humanity rules. Most of the Chinese I met believe that Google is only trying to use its pullout as a leverage to negotiate for better censorship terms with the Chinese authorities. In the past weeks, China has stated very CLEARLY that any company who wants to operate in CHINA must RESPECT CHINESE LAWS. If that is not clear to the Western media, I would like to stress it one more time. FOREIGN COMPANIES MUST RESPECT CHINESE RULES. So why make a fuss out of it. If you do not want to play on that same set of rule, just get out, please don’t cry like a spoiled brat like Google. This is what I truly believe and there is not even a small piece of sympathy inside me for Google.

If Google is a defender of freedom and openness, why does it take them 3 years to do so? Why do they want to get into China in the first place? And what about succumbing to other countries censorship laws in Vietnam and Saudi Arabia? Western media did not play up this censorship issues in these countries but tend to highlight this when it comes to China. It is China bashing at its best and Western media has organized a concerted attack using this highly exaggerated issue. Most overseas Chinese and even local mainland Chinese is aware of this devious plan. I do not think Google is a genuine crusader but the writer would like its readers to believe him.

I tend to agree with Martin Jacques (the author of When China Rules The World) opinion that even a big company like Google cannot take on the Chinese government or for that matter, the Chinese people throughout the world and hope to win. Google will exit from the Chinese market and that will have an impact to its long term global ambitions. I would add that if a company cannot conquer the Chinese 1.3 billion market then it is not a global company and I wish to see Google as just that.

The writer did not mention that Google has failed to dominate the Internet search engine market. Baidu, a home grown company, has taken up 65% of the market consisting of 380 million online surfers. Other competitors are waiting earnestly in the wings to assume the vacuum in the event of a Google exit. There is no loss for the Chinese users.

China has already built up quite a fair bit of followers and its supporters since the Olympic Games and being the 3rd largest economy (to overtake Japan as the second largest in the next 2 years), China will continue to draw more support. The writer’s claim that China is hungry for international respect and recognition is highly debatable. China has invited the world’s leaders for the Olympic Games and the soon to be organized, World Expos in Shanghai and if the invitees do not turn up, there is no loss to China. What matters most is the ability to maintain its composure, pride and dignity of the Chinese people. The world’s overseas Chinese (except maybe some Singaporean and Hong Kong Chinese) is strongly supporting the Chinese government in its tiff with Google (which represent a Caucasian face). The important thing is that the Chinese should not sell its self governing right especially when a US based company is being strongly backed by a known superpower.

The writer said that the Chinese should regard Google as a significant player on the world stage and that it has the power to hurt like a nation state might. What a load of rubbish! The writer is clearly playing up to the tune of the West and is sulking up to Western influence. I like to state that GOOGLE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO HURT THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT, MORE SO THE CHINESE PEOPLE. The writer a Chinese descendent should be ashamed. He is selling his soul to the West for a piece of action or perhaps, under instructions from the Singapore government.

Singapore has always been pro-Western or more specifically pro-US and China should realize by now that its positive overtures to strengthen military ties with this small republic has been put on the shelf whereas the highly publicized military links with US and the Commonwealth nations will remain as the core defensive structure in this part of the world. On a comparison basis, China has already developed military ties with Thailand, Cambodia and Myammar. Indonesia and Malaysia have also positively responded to a military dialogue with China. Singapore is the only country in South East Asia that is pursuing a US centered military pact. It is only keen to advance trade and business ties with the growing superpower in Asia and nothing else. That I believe China should take note.

In the event of an outbreak of hostilities between the US and China, I do hope China would know who its strategic partners and genuine friends are while devising a military warfare to defend its people.

China should tell Google to pack its bag and leave China immediately

By China Watcher

It is not a game of being nice. Before Google does any damage to the security and business interest of the Chinese, the Chinese government should just tell Google to leave China immediately.

Google is trying to use whatever publicity in collaboration with its hordes of Western media particularly US owned to paint China in the negative light but this is not working for them. In fact, a large percentage of the overseas Chinese I met recently expressed its undivided support to the Chinese government for making a stand that if you operate in China – RESPECT CHINESE LAW otherwise SHIPPED OUT and DO IT QUIETLY.

I would like to share a comment from an oversea Chinese who aptly summarizes what many Chinese throughout the world would have expressed:

“ I question Google's Drummond going to CNBC to publicize its threat to leave China. I happened to see the show on that night and I was not particularly pleased at the jibes and poison barbs thrown at the Chinese government without even them having an opportunity to reply. Google seemed to have misjudgedthe public's mood when it - a business entity - tried to make the Chinese look bad by slandering it on global television. That must be the height of arrogance and hypocrisy. The immediate similarity that comes to mind is Steven Spielberg's pullout from his commitment to his contract prior to the launching of the Beijing Olympic games. It was a downright utterly contemptible move .. stabbing your benefactor in the back! I bet he has not lived that down even today. All said, these two incidents bear the hall marks of the US President's campaign of its bad cops while the President tries to play good cop. The US and Britain are just most despicable in this matter .. seen from people from the East.”

The US government is behind the devious Google’s planned exit from China

By China Watcher

Yesterday, the US government (inclusive of the hated and nosy Congressmen) has demonstrated its true colors by coming from behind to support the Google THREAT to pullout from China. The Obama Administration has requested an explanation of the hacking activities of Google’s servers whereby, in actuality, only the names of 2 human rights activist accounts were lost and not much confidential data were leaked.

I applaud Microsoft for its upright and just opinion by commenting that that it is all a business game and that Google is merely crying like a “spoilt child” over the inability to dominate the Chinese search engine market after more than 3 years. Microsoft added that hacking of information is a “common phenomena” and it is up to the Internet operator to upgrade its security fix or infrastructure to deter hackers.

A corporate pullout from a lucrative market is really nothing for China but one which is fully backed by its own government, maybe, that is something. Or so they think? But the Chinese has never succumbed to Threats and Pressure especially from the West, more so from the US government.

A few more comments from online parties on the subject:

1. Google by right should leave China for a long time and please let Microsoft takes over the business in China since the Chinese needs time for adjustments to polish its skills further before a genuine fight with Google. Microsoft will certainly help China in all aspects to polish its skills and by that time Google wouldn't have any place in China and the Chinese should be able to export its advanced search engines to other countries in direct competition with Google. With commitments, I believe Skill and Knowledge can be acquired with others to hold you at ransoms.

2. Yes Google should leave China now that the USA State Dept., has made a big deal about their intention. Read the Chinese responses to this issue. I say to those who make a big deal of this that China will be happier if Google leaves.

3. Well done China! Don't let yourselves be dictated to in your internal affairs by a mere multinational corporation from the imperialist west. Do what is right and best for the interests of your people and don't succumb to their bankrupt and discredited right-wing anarchist, Neo-Liberal ideology. After all, how much does Google contribute to China's economy compared to how much China's economy contributes to Google.

4. Every country has it's own rules and regulations. Even taxes are different! If Google intends to do business in China, they are atleast follow their rules and regulation. If Google intends to business but NOT following their rules and regulations, that's ILLEGAL.Crying over cyberattacks and censorship is lame. Google is a large multinational corporate which its business its Internet search engine and advertisement. Cyberattacks are expected. All Internet servers are all attacked every day, every hour. What do Google expect? Censorship is applied everywhere in the World! Some countries censor child porn, some censor religious taboos, others have their software piracy censorship. It's just China happened to be reinforced heavier censorship. It's not like something Google search engines cannot afford to do.

5. Just alone India and China make up 2/3rds of the world's population, and counting in the Soviet Union, all Muslim nations, Latin American-Brazilian region and African countries, that would make Google's relevance to the world merely that of a minority stakeholder. Google had better toe the line before these 4 major forces decide Google is just a proxy of the certain Caucasian factions and should be shut out of their business models.

Let Google leave and set stricter rules if they beg to come back later. Support other friendly non -US corporate and companies. The US cannot be trusted.

Is it really a mixed type of view about Google exit from China?

By China Watcher

Most of the internet comments I read from Chinese citizens in China supported the Chinese government stand to impose restrictions on the Internet. But the Western media, as usual, published a few favorable comments supporting Google decision, in an attempt to sway public opinions. Washington Post went even further with its report that 80 million Chinese netizens would be angry from Google exit. Really? What they could do is to turn to Baidu, which is home-grown and liked by the majority of its 360 million netizens. This is the type of bias reporting which can irk your nerves.

Do you really think the West is so principled that their authorities do not retrieve information from its US-owned Internet and networking companies? I have come across articles revealing that the CIA and the FBI have illegally poke its “intelligence eyes” into Google private accounts in an effort to filter those with terrorist innuendos.

Provided below is a few interesting comments taken from an online news portal on the issue:

1. Google is OK with The US Government screening every single email that go through Google's server and listening to every phone call in US and else where, but he has problem with the Chinese looking into email of couple of their citizens. I guess the human-right champion operates on double standard.

2. Google is trying do another Steven Speilberg with misinformation and making the Chinese look bad. Google now has been roped in as part of the US and British campaign to villify the Chinese. They can't accept an independent China after that veto on sanctions against Iran. Only obedient boys like the Japanese under Koizumi and others before him, are considered good boys. Besides, Google is trying to divert public's attention from their major felony of digitizing of 80,000 Chinese books without permission from its authors. The US-Anglo governments are behind all these. No question about it.

3. Never heard of a bee who is finish with a flower, hahahha... The biggest flower of them all, too. Oh Please lah. China is OK without Google, but is Google OK without China?

4. The Chinese Government never pretend they are a nice guy. All the rules are already there well before Google was formed. So, Google went into China with its' eye wide open (Singapore famous leader quote). I am wondering why Google never inform people about they allow US Government to screen every single email that go through Google's server.

I am very happy that the Chinese government has not relented on Google’s threat. I also hope that they would place a moratorium of at least 3 years on Google if they intend to crawl back into the Chinese market.