23 March 2010 | Author: D. Warburton Search Copywriter

Google moves China operations to Hong Kong

Google's stand-off with Beijing over issues of internet censorship and security came to a head last night, as the US search giant announced it would be moving its Chinese-language services to Hong Kong.

The furore surrounding Google's China operations erupted following the discovery that cyber attacks against Gmail and other services had originated in the nation. These security breaches against the accounts of Chinese human rights activists led the search seraph to revise its approach to China, stating that it would no longer support the censorship of search results ordered by the Chinese government.

By shifting its operations to the more liberal Hong Kong, the Guardian reports that Google will no longer be required to self-censor search results, though filters will still prevent users in mainland China from accessing 'sensitive' content. However, the move did not come without a cost; damaging Google's relationship with the Chinese government, as well as highlighting the challenges of business partnerships between China and western countries.

Google's chief legal officer, David Drummond, said: "We believe this new approach of providing uncensored search in simplified Chinese from Google.com.hk is a sensible solution to the challenges we've faced.

"We hope the Chinese government respects our decision, though we are aware that it could at any time block access."

Mr Drummond was supportive of the company's former employees in Beijing who had now lost their jobs due to the move, explaining that the decisions were "driven and implemented by our executives in the United States, and ... none of our employees in China can, or should, be held responsible for them."

Nevertheless, the swift response of a state council official in the Xinhua news agency was to call Google's decision "totally wrong," stating that the company had "violated its written promise."

Google intends to retain its research, development and advertising sales business in China, but now Chinese language users accessing Google.cn will be redirected to Google.com.hk, and presented with the message: "Welcome to Google search in China's new home."

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