Following earlier reports that Google is being accused of collaborating with U.S. spy agencies, Google founder and president of technology Sergey Brin still hopes for a reconciliation with China.
"Perhaps we can return to serving mainland China in the future," Brin told the New York Times this week.
It is not surprising that Brin wants to find a resolution to this current impasse, as China has nearly 400 million web users, and a greater number of potential customers for mobile phones and smartphones.
Confusion over strategy
As far as relocating its search functions to Hong Kong, there is now widespread confusion as to the thinking behind the strategy from analysts and political pundits alike.
J. Stapleton Roy, former United States ambassador to China and Director of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars says of Google's latest move: "I don't understand their calculation. I do not see how Google could have concluded that they could have faced down the Chinese on a domestic censorship issue."
David M. Lampton, Director of China Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, said the move is sure to be "seen as fundamentally politically subversive in China… I am not sure whether it was an attempt by Google to give the Chinese a way out, but instead it magnified the political controversy."
Via New York Times
