The China Vs Google war continues. Yesterday we looked at the tensions brewing between Communist China and Google. To summarise, China fears revolution and Google has become their main target in an attempt at quelling any unrest which may be bubbling under the surface. With technology such as social networking and the big G itself being one of the most powerful tools for protesters China have been accused of hacking Gmail accounts along with other unsavoury behaviour.
I commended Google for its openness on the issue, but of course China does not see things in the same light. Not taking the finger-pointing lightly the Chinese government risks escalating the situation after issuing in angry response to Google's accusations.
“This is an unacceptable accusation,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said during a news conference. This mirrors past 'issues' between the two. When the US piped up about internet censorship China hit back saying, the U.S. attacks China’s Internet policy, indicating that China has been restricting Internet freedom. We resolutely oppose such remarks and practices that contravene facts and undermine China-U.S. relations.”
But the question is what's next for Google? China have previously threatened to remove the service and will have no qualms about doing so. With the internet spouting 'jasmine revolution' style propaganda China won't back down, so either Google let them govern the internet their way or risk losing a huge multi-million pound (and growing) market.
We'll keep our eye on this story because it looks like things are going to heat up. It won't be long until the politicians get involved and that's when things get messy. We've seen how the Middle East reacts to Western intervention China's reaction will be even more fierce.