Being one of the few top search engines in the world, Google provides lots of information and knowledge to people in China. Google, therefore, brings in global, including but not only western, values to Chinese and broadens their horizon. If Google quits China, citizens in China will likely lose a great channel to search and attain useful contents and be forced to withdraw from the world. People in China have been already disconnected from the world in some ways. For instance, while people all over the world are using instant messenger like MSN to communicate with others locally and globally, most of the Chinese are using QQ only to connect with others locally. They cannot communicate with people in other countries with QQ because others don’t use QQ. As Facebook, Youtube and a vast number of other websites are blocked, Chinese have limited platforms to attain information outside or even within the country. Consequently, they will be further disconnected from the world as they may not be easily updated about the news happened all over the world. For instance, Chinese students, as known as the future of China, cannot get further global information and knowledge via Google, the world’s most popular search engines. In other words, they will likely be restrained and isolated from the world. Likewise, the working class would not access to useful information related to their careers.
After the cyber-attack in China, Google announced the possibility to leave China if China does not relax internet censorship. If Google does pull out of China, it may arouse social instability and conflicts. For those who get used to use Google’s services, including the search engine, Gmail, blog and etc, don’t want Google leaves. Some of them left flowers and messages outside the Google’s offices in Beijing and mounted a candlelight vigil. They may even ascribe the withdrawal to Chinese Government’s faults. They might even start to be anti-Government or even anti-Communist Party.
Yet, noise aroused in this news is not totally in favor of Google. Some Chinese netizens see Google’s statement as a ridiculous threat to the Chinese government. They believe that Google’s consideration to quit is due to its failure to consolidate its position in the Chinese market. In addition, as there is much supportive voice of their home-grown search engine Baidu, it is not surprising to see social conflicts.
In terms of economic aspect, if Google pulls out of China, it may create a lose-lose situation. As China is recognized as a media market with explosive internet growth, it is non-sense for the world’s mostly-used search engine, Google, to quit China. Furthermore, as the internet becomes one of the quickest and most convenient medium for communication, Google’s leave may represent a disconnection of China and the world. With limited communication, economic activities, such as trades, investments, exchange of technological advents, developments and etc, would be hindered and reduced in some circumstances. For example, if there are not enough advertising channels for a company to promote their imported goods and services in another country, it is certainly difficult to help the company maximize their sales. Hence, without Google, one of the global advertising platforms and medium, the opportunities of bringing advertisements especially those of the multi-national-corporations (MNCs) into China will be decreased. As a result, it is possible that MNCs would lose their interests and reduce their investments in China. Eventually, it is an even greater loss to China if there is less investment and influx of global ideas. Furthermore, if Google quits, there will be less competition in the Chinese media industry. This may finally lead to a decrease of service quality. Netizens in China would become the group to suffer.
More significantly, it would increase the political tension between China and US if Google’s leave takes place. Before Google’s threat, the disagreement on the issues of trade imbalances, currency values and US weapons sales to Taiwan have already harmed the relationship between China and US. Now, two different stances of the internet censorship even tighten and worsen the relationship between two nations. According to David Drummond, Google’s chief legal officer, dozens of China, US and Europe-based users of its Gmail service who are advocates of human rights in China had been “routinely accessed by the third party”. Google even sees China as the only suspect as they think the cyber-attack was too sophisticated which could only be carried out by China. Facing this accuse, however, China denied being behind any attacks and restated its forbiddance of hacking. Not to mention whether the cyber-attack was indeed managed by China, Google performed in a contradictious role in this controversial issue.
Back to the moment when Google was first launched in China in 2006, Google determined to give up its corporate motto, “Don’t be evil” (1) and conceded to the Chinese government’s demands on censorship. Google had made such a decision as it believed it would be more damaging for civil liberties if Google did not enter China. Four years ago, Google proudly entered the Chinese market with its heroic mission to help the Chinese be exposed to the world. Today, it seems ridiculous for Google to quit China as this action could be interpreted as suddenly abandoning the Chinese netizens and resigning from being a hero.
“China’s internet is open, and the Chinese government encourages development of the internet”, stated by Jiang Yu, the spokesperson of Foreign Ministry. It was the first response from China in this news. Perhaps Google can disagree with the level of “open” in the Chinese internet as insisted by the Chinese government, it does not have the power or rights to govern or infringe upon the Chinese’ regulations. Moreover, it is understandable that everyone should follow and respect the laws and regulations of one nation while enjoying various kinds of freedom. It is just the same when it comes to the business circumstances. Hence, when Google is developing its business in China, it should obey the rules set by the Chinese government. Again, it is wondering why Google proposes the release of internet censorship, but not at the time when it entered China four years ago.
As Google brought in the matters of internet freedom, the US government has to come out and assert its own democratic image by supporting Google’s idea to promote freedom. Unfortunately, this struggle would affect not only impair the interests of US and China, but also of the globe. For instance, when there is international agenda about global issues, two big countries would not be compliant but antagonize each other. Consequently, it is hardly to reach a consensus on world’s issues and even harm the global interests, like the recent deadlock of the Copenhagen conference.
To conclude from the above predicted consequences caused by Google’s possible withdrawal, it is not welcoming to see Google’s plan comes true. Again, it is too hard for China to tolerate instability within the nation, there is still a long way to breed ‘freedom’. If striving for freedom in China is the real motivation behind Google’s ‘democratic’ proposal, Google should give up as soon as possible and tries repairing the relationship with the Chinese government, unless it does not deem the rapidly growing Chinese market as an opportunity to be benefited. Yet, when it comes to the question about the real motivation behind Google’s threat, time may tell.
(1) “Don’t be evil”:
"Don't be evil" is said to recognize that large corporations often maximize short-term profits with actions that destroy long-term brand image and competitive position. Supposedly, by instilling a Don't Be Evil culture the corporation establishes a baseline for decision making that can enhance the trust and image of the corporation that outweighs short-term gains from violating the Don't Be Evil principles.
Materials extracted from Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_be_evil
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