SAN FRANCISCO — Shedding China’s shackles on free speech is proving to be easier said than done for Google Inc.
The Internet search leader is still censoring its results in China a month after Google’s leaders took a public stand against Chinese laws that require the removal of links to websites that the government deems subversive or offensive.
Citing the sensitivity of the talks, Google officials won’t say how the negotiations have been going since the company issued its Jan. 12 threat to shut down its China-based search engine and possibly leave the country altogether. Google is demanding that the government tear down the “Great Firewall” that seeks to keep China’s citizens from finding politically sensitive information and images.
Google’s top lawyer, David Drummond, initially said Google would take a few weeks to meet with government officials before deciding what to do. But Google officials now say the company might parse its Chinese search results for several more months while it steers through a political and cultural minefield in search of a compromise with the ruling party.
Google’s willingness to keep its censored search engine running for now is a signal that Chinese leaders haven’t been as unyielding in the private talks as they have in public statements demanding obedience of the law, said Internet analyst Colin Gillis, who follows Google for BGC Financial.
“It’s probably a positive sign,” Gillis said. “Google wants to find a way to stay there, and the Chinese government doesn’t want Google to leave because that would be a black mark on them.”
Even so, a compromise may still prove difficult because neither side wants to be seen as backing down from its principles. Each side would have to find a way to concede without appearing to capitulate, in keeping with the Chinese custom of “face saving.” To complicate things further, both the Chinese government and Google appear to be grappling with conflicting priorities.
China’s ruling party recognizes that it needs technology innovators such as Google to help fuel the country’s robust economic growth, but the government fears losing control if its citizens could read and see anything they want.
The tension within Google arises from the idealism of its founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, and its more practical, business-minded CEO, Eric Schmidt. Brin and Page, who combined still own a controlling interest in Google, have never felt comfortable about censoring search results in China. Although he didn’t like the restrictions either, Schmidt has always seemed more willing to do whatever it takes to remain in such a potentially lucrative market.
