Beijing: After Google Inc. has threatened China that it will stop its operation in the country, the government on Tuesday warned the technology giant to continue filtering its search engine results or face “consequences”.
In a press conference, Commerce Ministry spokesman Yao Jian said that Google should “respect and abide” the Chinese laws if the company wants to operate in the country.
“While we welcome foreign investments, the government is expecting that companies to follow the law”, the official said.
According to previous reports, Google said it may abandon its business in China after Gmail accounts of human rights advocates and politic activists were allegedly hacked by Chinese authorities.
Also, the US-based technology giant said it “no longer wants to bow to the country’s web censors” which prevent users from accessing websites which are deemed by the government to be insidious.
“If the only option is to shut and leave the country, we are prepared for that”, Google deputy counsel and vice president Nicole Wong said during a speech in the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.
Wong also said that they [Google] will stop censoring the search results in China.
However, Google spokeswoman in China has denied rumors that the technology giant has stopped censoring search results, adding that the company has changed its plan.
The Chinese government has a tight control over the online content by using a system dubbed as the “Great Firewall of China”. While the system sanitized the search results by filtering sites with violence and pornography, it also removes those which are containing politically sensitive content.
China has previously warned Google from violating its law, adding that the company would face consequences if it does not conform to the government’s expectations.
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