Amid censorship concerns, Google has begun the process of exiting China.
On Monday, visitors the search giant’s Chinese site – Google.cn – were redirected to Google’s Hong Kong site.
Google is expected to shut down its Chinese operation as soon as Monday, unless a deal that would allow uncensored Web search can be reached.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said the company planned to “apply some pressure” on China’s government to “make things better for the Chinese people.”
“We like what China is doing in terms of growth,” Schmidt said. “We just don't like censorship.”
After all the posturing of the past few weeks, Google CEO Eric Schmidt apparently still thinks that his company can change China.
That was a change in tone from a few weeks before, when Google threatened to pull out of China in a “stunning” policy change after Google discovered that was the “victim of ‘a highly sophisticated and targeted attack’ aimed at gathering information about human rights activists.”
China denied involvement.
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