Beijing, January 14: In China’s first official response to Google’s threat to leave the country, the government on Thursday said foreign internet companies are welcome, but must obey the law and gave no hint of a possible compromise over web censorship.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu, without mentioning Google by name, said Beijing prohibits e-mail hacking, another reason cited by Google for possibly shutting down its China operation. She was responding to questions about Google at a regular ministry briefing.
“China’s internet is open,” Jiang said. “China welcomes international internet enterprises to conduct business in China according to law.”
Google said on Tuesday it would stop censoring search results in China and might shut down its China-based Google.cn site, citing hacking attacks against its e-mail service.
Jiang gave no indication whether the government had talked with Google. The state Xinhua News Agency said earlier officials were seeking more information about its announcement.
–Agencies