Chinese media unleashed a torrent of criticism against Google on Saturday after reports it would leave the country, with Xinhua news agency alleging that the company was linked to US intelligence.
The comments were the latest in a series of angry exchanges sparked by the row over the Internet giant’s complaints of cyber hacking and censorship in the country.
“Some Chinese Internet users who prefer to use Google still don’t realize perhaps that because of the links between Google and the US intelligence services, search histories on Google will be kept and used by the US intelligence agencies,” Xinhua said in an editorial.
Google’s main spokeswoman in Beijing declined to comment on the claims.
The English-language China Daily declared “Google in wrong game” as it took issue with the company’s stance, saying: “The Chinese are enjoying unprecedented freedom in the country’s more than 5,000 years of history.”
“If the vested interests’ accusation that the Chinese government censors the Internet to spy on its own people does not originate from ignorance, then [it] is a white lie and a malicious attack,” China Daily said. “It will not do any good to Google either and by linking its exit from China with political issues, Google will certainly lose its credibility in a country that has the largest number of netizens.”
On its Internet site, China Radio International accused Google of encroaching on the country’s sovereignty.
“There has only been one such case in more than 100 years of colonialism and semi-colonialism — that of the British East India Company, which wanted to control India’s sovereignty,” the station said. “Perhaps if Google withdraws from the Chinese market it will have negative consequences for certain Internet users, but it will be Google that loses the most.”
On Friday, the China Business News quoted an official with an unidentified advertising agency linked to Google as saying the US firm would carry out its threatened withdrawal on April 10. Google declined to comment on the report.
The issue has sparked a war of words between China and the administration of US President Barack Obama, which has called on Beijing to allow an unfettered Internet.
In other developments, Beijing will take retaliatory steps if the US declares China a currency manipulator and imposes trade sanctions, Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming (陳德銘) said yesterday, the latest salvo in a spat over the value of the yuan.
Chen, speaking at the China Development Forum, again accused Washington of politicizing the issue ahead of an April 15 deadline when the US Treasury must decide whether to declare China a currency manipulator.
“The currency is a sovereign issue and should not be an issue to be discussed between two countries,” Chen said. “We think the yuan is not undervalued, but if the US Treasury gives an untrue outcome for its own needs, we will wait and see. If such an outcome is followed by trade sanctions, I think we will not do nothing. We will also respond if this means litigation under the global legal framework.”
He did not specify how Beijing might respond.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2