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.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
RSS