China warns Google to obey rules even if it pulls out
Published on Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 13:34 | Source : Reuters
Updated at Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 16:05
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China warns Google to obey rules even if it pulls out
Google should obey Chinese government rules even if it decides to retreat from the country over hacking and censorship complaints, a Chinese government spokesman said on Tuesday.
Google should obey Chinese government rules even if it decides to retreat from the country over hacking and censorship complaints, a Chinese government spokesman said on Tuesday.
Investors have sold off Google Inc shares after signs the company could soon shut its Web search site in China, Google.cn, two months after saying it would not abide by Beijing's censorship rules and was alarmed by hacking from inside China.
Google has not unveiled any plans, leaving users to guess whether the company may seek to unilaterally do away with the Chinese-mandated filters that censor content on google.cn or announce it is shutting down the site.
In what appeared to be a reminder that China would not welcome any abrupt steps, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce said Google should follow rules even if it decides not to stay in the country.
"On entering the Chinese market in 2007, it clearly stated that it would respect Chinese law," the spokesman, Yao Jian, told reporters in answer to a question about Google.
Google opened its Chinese search portal in 2006.
"We hope that whether Google Inc continues operating in China or makes other choices, it will respect Chinese legal regulations," Yao told a regular news conference.
"Even if it pulls out, it should handle things according to the rules and appropriately handle remaining issues," he said.
