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.
LIMITS: While China increases military pressure on Taiwan and expands its use of cognitive warfare, it is unwilling to target tech supply chains, the report said US and Taiwan military officials have warned that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could implement a blockade within “a matter of hours” and need only “minimal conversion time” prior to an attack on Taiwan, a report released on Tuesday by the US Senate’s China Economic and Security Review Commission said. “While there is no indication that China is planning an imminent attack, the United States and its allies and partners can no longer assume that a Taiwan contingency is a distant possibility for which they would have ample time to prepare,” it said. The commission made the comments in its annual
DETERMINATION: Beijing’s actions toward Tokyo have drawn international attention, but would likely bolster regional coordination and defense networks, the report said Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration is likely to prioritize security reforms and deterrence in the face of recent “hybrid” threats from China, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said. The bureau made the assessment in a written report to the Legislative Yuan ahead of an oral report and questions-and-answers session at the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The key points of Japan’s security reforms would be to reinforce security cooperation with the US, including enhancing defense deployment in the first island chain, pushing forward the integrated command and operations of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and US Forces Japan, as
IN THE NATIONAL INTEREST: Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu said the strengthening of military facilities would help to maintain security in the Taiwan Strait Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi, visiting a military base close to Taiwan, said plans to deploy missiles to the post would move forward as tensions smolder between Tokyo and Beijing. “The deployment can help lower the chance of an armed attack on our country,” Koizumi told reporters on Sunday as he wrapped up his first trip to the base on the southern Japanese island of Yonaguni. “The view that it will heighten regional tensions is not accurate.” Former Japanese minister of defense Gen Nakatani in January said that Tokyo wanted to base Type 03 Chu-SAM missiles on Yonaguni, but little progress
NO CHANGES: A Japanese spokesperson said that Tokyo remains consistent and open for dialogue, while Beijing has canceled diplomatic engagements A Japanese official blasted China’s claims that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has altered Japan’s position on a Taiwan crisis as “entirely baseless,” calling for more dialogue to stop ties between Asia’s top economies from spiraling. China vowed to take resolute self-defense against Japan if it “dared to intervene militarily in the Taiwan Strait” in a letter delivered Friday to the UN. “I’m aware of this letter,” said Maki Kobayashi, a senior Japanese government spokeswoman. “The claim our country has altered its position is entirely baseless,” she said on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Johannesburg on Saturday. The Chinese Ministry
RSS