Is Google another step closer to being unblocked in China?
Is Google another step closer to being unblocked in
China?
If negotiations go through, Google Scholar may be search
giant’s first service to re-enter world’s biggest internet market, Chinese
lawmaker reveals
PUBLISHED: Sunday, 12 March, 2017, 12:41pm UPDATED:
Sunday, 12 March, 2017, 11:11pm
A call to ease Beijing’s restrictions on academic
websites and search engines has been made in a surprisingly public fashion – it
would be a shame if it falls on deaf ears
12 Mar 2017
Google is still in talks with Beijing over its plans to
return to the mainland Chinese market, according to a senior Chinese lawmaker
and former top official with knowledge of the negotiations.
“China has been in touch with Google through various
channels. Last year, leaders of our country’s important department had further
communication with Google,” said Liu Binjie, a standing committee member of the
National People’s Congress and former head of the General Administration of
Press and Publication.
China’s opening up requires open minds – not a blocked
internet
Google Scholar, a search engine for scholarly literature,
was among the services on Beijing’s priority list for re-entry, according to
Liu, who was speaking to the Sunday Morning Post on the sidelines of the
China’s annual plenary sessions in Beijing on Friday.
There was hope that a part of Google’s business would
return to China first, gradually followed by others, the lawmaker said.
“The academic sector will be the first to get through,”
Liu said. “China’s focus is on [making] academic progress, such as academic
exchanges as well as [exchanges in] science and culture, instead of news,
information or politics.”
Liu Binjie, head of the Education, Science, Culture and
Public Health Committee of the National People's Congress speaks to the media
at the media centre in Beijing on Friday. Photo: Simon Song
Other Google functions under negotiation included
“service functions that do not involve [politically] sensitive information,”
according to the lawmaker.
But no timetable had yet been set for Google’s return, he
said.
Google breaks through China’s Great Firewall ... but only
for just over an hour
Since Google pulled its search engine out of mainland
China in 2010 after a bitter spat with Beijing over its strict censorship
rules, the internet giant has from time to time expressed its desire to venture
back into the world’s biggest internet market.
China has 721 million users and the number is still
growing.
In 2015, Alphabet executive chairman Eric Schmidt told a
tech conference in Beijing that Google was in constant dialogue with Beijing as
it sought to “serve the whole of China”. Alphabet is Google’s parent company.
“China’s principle is that you have to operate according
to Chinese law if you want to enter the Chinese market,” Liu said. “But if
[Google] goes by Chinese rules, it would harm its global operation rules and
[its image as] a fair, open platform. Some agreements have yet to be reached in
this aspect.”
The lawmaker added that commerce regulators were involved
in the talks, which had been ongoing since 2014.
China must unblock Google Scholar and keep the internet
open for its researchers
A Ministry of Commerce spokesman said he did not know
about the matter and that the ministry was “not the department in charge”.
Google did not respond to requests for comment.
Last month, US-based technology news outlet The
Information reported that Google was in talks NetEase, China’s second-biggest
online games operator, to form a venture to launch its Google Play application
store in the country. The report cited people familiar with the discussions.
Additional reporting by Wendy Wu
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post
print edition as:
Google in talks for mainland comeback
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