China May Soon No Longer Be Able to “Google It”

March 13, 2010 - By Justin E. Gehrke

March 13, 2010 – The debacle that has been the Google/China hacking incident seems to be reaching a boiling point that could likely result in the tech giant shutting down its China-based search engine altogether.

According a Reuters report, the decision is not yet final but could be as high as 99.9% certain. Google apparently is concerned about local retaliation against its employees in China, by Chinese authorities. China has gone as far as to warn Google not to try and use the government’s laws to get what they want.

Though Google initially threatened to pull out of China, immediately following the discovery of the hacking incident, the weeks that followed seem to show that a more amiable solution was being sought by both parties. Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, was quoted on Wednesday, March 10, 2010, as saying he thought an announcement regarding the incident would be forthcoming.

Unfortunately, China has done very little to help their own, global public image, when officials continue to publicly denounce the company. Li Yizhong, Chinese Minister of Industry and Information Technology, told reporters yesterday, “If you don’t respect Chinese laws, you are unfriendly and irresponsible, and the consequences will be on you.”

With statement such as this, it seems that the Google/China drama may not end as well, as Google had hoped.