Comments on: Google vs. China: What’s your view?

By: Alex Cowell

Alex Cowell — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:37:20 +0000

I said in an earlier comment that I suspected Google’s motivation was political and I still feel that is likely.

But I couldn’t let an excellent post by Umair Haque on the Harvard Business blog go by without a mention. He presents a compelling case that Google is also doing this to regain the ethical high ground and with it a major advantage in today’s economy:
http://blogs.hbr.org/haque/2010/01/google_china_and_the_new_high.html

By: Graham Scott

Graham Scott — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 12:29:29 +0000

I’d never considered Google to be an “Aspirational Brand” in China, but it makes a lot of sense. It’s another reason for them to stay there, although a far less compelling one than that they offer an unparalleled search service.

Fortunately the internet is fluid – even without an official presence, enterprising people will find ways to Google “over the wall”. I can imagine Google’s exit from China greatly benefitting projects such as Tor in the long run, which could perhaps have the unintended knock-on of improved anonymity for the internet as a whole.

By: Andy

Andy — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:45:17 +0000

I have a friend who lives in Beijing and regularly sends me articles about suppression of information, human rights abuse and environmental atrocities. There are a huge amount of people in China who look outward in hope to see a different life. Western corporate brands flourish for this reason in China as it is seen as a taste of another world. Google has established itself as being a symbol of the ultimate information source worldwide; and an even stronger symbol to a large amount of Chinese people. I believe it is important that Google stays on in China as this symbol of information. It has already entered a market that is a 5th of the worlds population, so even a small portion of that would probably justify its costs. In time the information reigns will lift, so Google needs to be standing to open the ports one by one and let the info flow.

By: Simon Booth

Simon Booth — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:17:06 +0000

@alexcowell You highlight some good angles and the Freedom vs. Authority one is the big philosophical arc. Western internet users assume the internet is (largely) free; the Chinese authorities assume otherwise. This is relevant given that China has the world's largest online population (300m). Will the Chinese authorities bat an eyelid? I don't know, and it invites the question "what's in it for China?" They agreed to let Google in in the first place so they must see some benefit (economic, political?) to their presence. I wouldn't be so quick to assume that they are immune to the opinion and actions of outsiders. However my favourite take on this so far comes from Jeff Jarvis in "What Google Should Do". To quote:

"They’ll ascribe cynical motives. But I say: Name one other company that finally said “enough!” and put ethic, morals, and company standards over its lust for the Chinese market. Not Yahoo. Not Cisco. Not Nokia. Not Siemens. Not The New York Times Company. Google has."

By: Alex Cowell

Alex Cowell — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 13:34:37 +0000

I think this story is ‘one to watch’ for libertarians in the Western hemisphere, but the ripples in most of China will be tiny. The point has been made by others elsewhere that Google is doing this for political rather than moral reasons and I suspect there is a lot of truth in that.

Will the Chinese authorities bat an eyelid? Personally, I doubt it. What has become clear to me over the past 12 months, having had the privilege of meeting a couple of experts on modern China, is the country’s power. They are fast becoming the centre of the world’s economy, they know it and they behave like it. I suspect they are laughing at this bravado from Google HQ, if they are bothering to give it any attention at all.

I think the (extremely abbreviated or, you might say, euphemistic) version of the story on China Daily speaks volumes:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-01/13/content_9315177.htm