Google prefers to resign rather than submit. Two months after revealing that massive computer attacks were conducted from China against its infrastructure, the American would be safe "99.9%" to abandon its Chinese search engine, reported the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal this weekend. According to an anonymous source quoted by the British newspaper, a closure plan Google.cn, has already been developed. Only the execution date is unknown. Last week, Google CEO Eric Schmidt announced that an outcome would be found "quickly".
Asked on Monday, a spokesman for Google said that discussions with the Chinese authorities were not broken. But they seem to be at an impasse.Google, which has complied with the demands of Chinese censors in its entry into the country four years ago, agreeing to serve the political or pornographic content, wants more today affect its results. Opposite, China reminds him that its laws must be respected, otherwise to "pay the price." Any other choice would be "unfriendly and irresponsible," warned Friday the Minister of Industry and Information Technology Li Yizhong.
Uncertainty about other Google products
If Google decides to close its Chinese search engine, but the consequences should be above all symbolic. In January, Google had thus ensured that its financial results in the country were "immaterial" (600 million dollars in 2009, according to an estimate by Morgan Stanley).In this sector, it is far outstripped by Baidu, which has a market share of 58%, whose share increased by 3.2% Tuesday on rumors of departure from its competitor. "The Internet market in China will continue to grow rapidly and the impact will not be too big," assured the minister Li Yizhong.
A withdrawal could instead be casting doubts on the future of other Google products, including mobile phones Android, China being the most dynamic market in the world. The impact on freedom of expression is not clear. The approximately 400 million Internet users in the country, wishing to continue using the engine will go through the U.S. version of the site may be blocked. China carries indeed very strict filtering on Western sites most popular, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, owned by Google.