A group of 27 Chinese advertising agencies have sent Google a letter calling for talks over compensation for possible business losses if the Internet giant pulls out of the country.
The letter, confirmed yesterday by Google and one of the agencies, complained that the US firm kept them in the dark about whether it plans to make good on a threat to leave China over censorship and cyber attacks.
The 27 advertising resellers said Google has had no consultations with them since it said in January it was considering pulling the plug on google.cn, its Chinese search engine.
A copy of the letter was posted on the Web site of state-run China Central Television (CCTV).
“The only thing we can do is to wait — in unbearable agony and anxiety,” the agencies said in the letter. “If Google tells us now that we, our clients, employees and investors have to bear the commercial risks of their business move ... we absolutely cannot accept it.”
An official with one of the agencies confirmed on condition of anonymity that the firm had signed the letter.
It was sent this week to John Liu (劉允), a Google vice president who oversees sales and business development for China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Google China spokeswoman Marsha Wang confirmed that the company had received the letter.
“We are reviewing it,” she said, declining to provide further details.
The firms called on Google to open “immediate negotiations” with them to discuss possible compensation.
“Many of us would face bankruptcy and close down because we have invested enormous funds and efforts to meet Google’s requirements,” they said.
They also warned the US company would be responsible for causing job losses of employees whose work was focused on Google.
“Google should bear full responsibility if tens of thousands of employees cause any problems for China’s economic and political stability,” they said.
The agencies said they may seek compensation for investments they made to ramp up their ability to handle Google’s business, for which they had not enjoyed commensurate returns, the letter said.
The agencies’ clients could in turn seek to reclaim payments made to Google for future advertising.
Google has threatened to leave China over what it said were cyber attacks aimed at its source code and the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.
The Financial Times reported at the weekend that Google was “99.9 percent” certain to abandon google.cn, citing an unnamed source.
Chinese media said yesterday that Google sent a notice to clients saying google.cn could close at the end of this month.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
The Chien Feng IV (勁蜂, Mighty Hornet) loitering munition is on track to enter flight tests next month in connection with potential adoption by Taiwanese and US armed forces, a government source said yesterday. The kamikaze drone, which boasts a range of 1,000km, debuted at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in September, the official said on condition of anonymity. The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and US-based Kratos Defense jointly developed the platform by leveraging the engine and airframe of the latter’s MQM-178 Firejet target drone, they said. The uncrewed aerial vehicle is designed to utilize an artificial intelligence computer
Renewed border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia showed no signs of abating yesterday, leaving hundreds of thousands of displaced people in both countries living in strained conditions as more flooded into temporary shelters. Reporters on the Thai side of the border heard sounds of outgoing, indirect fire yesterday. About 400,000 people have been evacuated from affected areas in Thailand and about 700 schools closed while fighting was ongoing in four border provinces, said Thai Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, a spokesman for the military. Cambodia evacuated more than 127,000 villagers and closed hundreds of schools, the Thai Ministry of Defense said. Thailand’s military announced that
RSS