from good morning silicon valley. hans: what, me worry?
their online jingoists must be foaming at the mouth as usual.
China: What, you have a problem with "effective guidance of public opinion"?
By JOHN MURRELL
The prospects for rapprochement after Google's sudden shift in China policy were looking slim this morning, as China's leaders and some of its entrepreneurs reacted to the search sovereign's potential pullout with a collective shrug.
In an indirect response to Google's refusal to continue government-ordered censorship, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu maintained that "China's Internet is open" — open, that is, in the sense of being closed to certain information. "The Chinese government administers the Internet according to law," she said, "and we have explicit stipulations over what content can be spread on the Internet." All companies willing to accept those restrictions are welcome to do business in China, she said, leaving the converse unspoken. Oh, and those sophisticated hacking attacks against Google and other U.S. companies that seem to lead back to China? "China's law prohibits cyber crimes including hacker attacks," said Jiang. Putting the fundamental divide into even sharper relief was Wang Chen, information director for the State Council: "Effective guidance of public opinion on the Internet is an important way of protecting the security of online information. ... China's Internet is entering an important stage of development, confronting both rare opportunities and severe challenges. Internet media must always make nurturing positive, progressive mainstream opinion an important duty." Obviously, Google and China are working from different mission statements.
Meanwhile, Kim-Mai Cutler from VentureBeat talked with a group of Chinese entrepreneurs and VCs who happened to be making an unfortunately timed visit to the Googleplex and found them largely skeptical that Google would actually leave China and largely indifferent to the implications if it does. "I've been talking about this to many friends," said Jess Wu, of the Chinese Founders Fund. "It's OK. It's no big deal. They all say, 'Just quit. We don't care.' The Chinese government will never back down on the censorship issue. If they do, their power will weaken and they will fall." Another VC partner who didn't want his name used said, "China doesn't care. The government is too powerful. Google has made all kinds of sacrifices in the short-term. They'll back off for awhile, and then they'll come back again. China is not a free country, but it still has a lot of venture opportunities."
In the online conversations of China's Net users, there was a mix of nationalism ("Google, put your money where your mouth is and get the hell out of China. What right does a small company have to make demands of the Chinese government?") and dismay ("It's hard for someone who speaks the truth to survive in China"). Oh, and a bit of dark humor as well, like this description of life in China after a Google departure:
People born in '90s: Today I stepped out of the Great Firewall and saw a foreign website named Google. It is all but a copy of Baidu.
Born in '00s: What do you mean by stepping out of Great Firewall?
Born in '10s: What do you mean by website?
Born in '20s: What is "foreign"?
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