This might have been a no-brainer for some, but the tension between China and Google has been eased when it was announced this weekend that Google’s operating license in China was renewed without issue.
Guxiang is the company responsible for operating Google’s Chinese sites, and included in the license renewal application was a pledge to ensure that all sites in their jurisdiction comply with Chinese law.
The law states that no company or website should aim to “subvert state power, undermine national security … or that incites ethnic hatred and secession, transmits pornography or violence”.
The saga has been ongoing since Google discovered the Chinese government nosing around in their email systems, and dramatically announced they were withdrawing from China back in January.
Well, that withdrawal has become more of a measured political game, with Google still trying to have it’s cake and eat it too.
Many believe that Beijing renewed the license more to appear friendly to foreign companies than out of satisfaction with Google’s practices, but either way this seems to be the end of this particular battle. The score? a disappointing nil-nil draw.
As reported by Reuters