Google in China: Closer Look at Conflict

The conflict between Google and the Chinese government is surely one of the most widely discussed Internet-related issues. The recent talks between Google, who refuse to operate under harsh censorship, and Chinese officialdom, who are unwilling to accept the Company’s demands, might seem to have emerged from nowhere. However, the recent conflict is actually the result of a long-standing confrontation between the authorities and the American search giant.

Even though the Chinese Internet has always been notorious for limiting the freedom of users, the current number of people using the web has now reached several hundred million. Even people in small villages now have internet access. At the same time, the Chinese government’s infamously harsh censorship policy “protects” its citizens from any undesirable information. Compared to other countries where the web serves as a place is for the opposition to criticize existing governments, opponents in China have almost no way of doing so through the Internet in their country. All the restrictions are stipulated by law, and violation of the rules can lead to lengthy lawsuits and even imprisonment.

Google’s ideology of Internet democracy just doesn’t seem to fit in with Chinese regulations, which only allow a certain amount of freedom in the state. The Chinese authorities are also rather suspicious of those foreign companies that are willing to enter an otherwise well-regulated Internet market. Google believes in the democracy of the web, trying to offer its customers limitless access to Internet resources. Despite the fact that Google controversially collects detailed information about its users, it nonetheless provides uncensored access to a great number of web resources, many of which are not at all welcome in China.

Despite such major ideological discrepancies, Google still managed to enter the Chinese market in 2006 as Google.cn. A certain compromise, however, had to be achieved between the search giant and the government which was at that stage a crucial step towards conquering a potentially thriving Internet market. A number of clashes over filtering pornographic content, blocking the search engine for “education” purposes and other incidents were followed by a major conflict in January 2010.

Following a major cyber attack in December 2009 when Chinese hackers had managed to break into users’ mailboxes and get access to their emails, Google refused to censor search results, as they reported the action to be thoroughly planned and deliberate. The American government subsequently accused China of limiting the freedom of its users by denying them access to online information. In turn, the Chinese authorities rejected all the accusations, stating that all the claims were nothing more than attempts to hurt the country’s reputation in the international arena.

After this most recent dispute, emotions seem to have subsided slightly. But what is going to happen next? And why has this conflict caused such heated debates globally? The competition between the US and China, the financial issues involved, the violation of freedom of speech – all these and  other factors may have come into play here. Has the conflict been resolved or will it merely resurface in the future? One thing remains clear though: Google may not be willing to pull out of China completely and leave a potentially very large Internet market behind. Yet, if it does choose to stay there, how far should they be willing to compromise?