China: Google has violated promise

The State Council Information Office, says Google's discontinuing to censor results violates the written promise it made when it entered China and is totally wrong. The Information Office's remarks came when Google announced on Tuesday it stopped self-censoring its mainland-based search engine and moved Google.cn to its Hong Kong website.

Internet users on the Chinese mainland can still access google.cn, but are automatically re-directed to Google's Hong Kong server.

This comes after Google announced early Tuesday that it has stopped filtering information as is required by Chinese law.

The Chinese government immediately responded.

The State Council Information Office, which regulates China's Internet, called the move "totally wrong".

The office says Google has violated the promise it made when entering the Chinese market by stopping filtering its searching service and by blaming China for alleged hacker attacks. The Information Office says China is opposed to the politicization of commercial issues, and expresses its discontent and indignation with Google for its unreasonable accusations and conduct.

The Information Office says the government talked to Google twice to try to resolve the standoff and suggested that China's laws requiring Web sites to censor themselves was non-negotiable. China will still adhere to the opening-up principle and welcome foreign companies wanting to invest in China's Internet Industry.

The Foreign Ministry has also responded.

Qin Gang said, "China manages the Internet according to the law and our stance on it is firm. This is also in line with international practice."

While the search engine has shifted to Hong Kong, Google.cn's map service and a free music portal remain in China. Research and sales divisions also remain, for the time being.

Google's Gmail e-mail service is still accessible from within China, as is its news page.