International Law

The Google Threat: Paper Tiger?

?Media is always a losing proposition in China.?

I was thrilled to read Anne Stevenson Yang's forthright and accurate assessment of foreign involvement in Chinese media. Finally, a non-Chinese within China is willing to state the obvious to a public audience. Brava!

And what elicited the comment? Google's threat to pull out of China because of cyberattacks, originating in China, leading to theft of company intellectual property and instrusion into Gmail accounts, ostensibly belonging to users with connections to human rights movements. Don Clarke's post on the topic is worth reading.

Perhaps 30 years ago, I came into possession of a 1960's US Department of the Army treatise on China, entitled, "China: Ruthless Enemy or Paper Tiger?" It may still sit on the shelf in my library. Is Google a Paper Tiger?

Note: the company announced it was "considering" quitting the market.

These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered--combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web--have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.

What does Google hope to gain announcing a mere possibility of "withdrawal" from China? Surely, by now, the company has accumulated enough wisdom to know that they have been on the losing end of a hopeless battle with the Party. Furthermore, the abrupt decision to end compliance with government censorship requirements is a direct assault on the leadership, akin to the jester throwing down the gauntlet at the Black Knight -- within his castle. The company cannot hope to alter the activities of its massive and muscular propaganda organ, it's vast surveillance functions, all freely exercised. Party leadership will be incensed and take appropriate action, as one might expect of them. I do not see any way back from this precipitous decision.

On the other hand, business has been tough for Google in China, partly because of the business model which they had hoped to transplant, dependent upon substantially greater freedoms of expression than the Party is willing to tolerate, even from foreign entities with clout. As a result, Baidu -- with its hand-in-glove relationship with media censors and administrators -- has eaten Google's proverbial lunch. This seems as good a reason as any for Google to surrender while appearing to save face.

Full post as published by Asia Business Intelligence on January 13, 2010 (boomark / email).