Google to Shut Down China Operation in Apri 2010
By HASSY at 19 March, 2010, 9:51 pm
U.S. Internet giant Google will close its business in China next month and may announce its plans next week, Chinese media reported on Friday, after rows over censorship and hacking.
Workers repair a partially broken marble tablet which bears Google’s logo in front of Google China’s headquarters building in Beijing, China.
The China Business News said Google would go through with a threatened withdrawal from the country on April 10.
“We have learned that Google will leave China on April 10, but the information has not been confirmed by Google at present,” the newspaper quoted an official with an unidentified Chinese advertising agency as saying.
The agency is a business partner of Google, the report said.
The report did not specify whether Google would close all or part of its operations in the country.
The newspaper quoted an unidentified Google staff member as saying the company may announce on Monday the details of its exit from China and compensation for its local staff.
Google China spokeswoman Marsha Wang declined to comment on the report, telling AFP only that there has been “no update” on the company’s situation.
Google has cried foul over what it said were cyberattacks aimed at its source code and the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.
The issue has exacerbated mounting tensions between China and the United States over a range of trade and diplomatic issues.
The company has continued to filter google.cn results to abide by Chinese censorship demands, but says it will eventually stop the screening.
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