The Great Firewall of China May Spring a Leak

Throughout history, countries have had to adapt products and abide by regulations when trading with other nations. This could be as simple as toys produced in Asia not containing lead paint when shipped to the United States or tariff policies that require a tax to be levied on imported goods. But when regulations and adaptations leave the fiscal field and move into the social and political fields, controversies arise.

Google Inc. announced on January 12th that it intended no longer to follow Chinese government requirements to censor their search engine, google.cn. This sudden change in operating policy could result in Google leaving the largest internet market in the world, with an estimated 400 million users. Why would Google change its policy when from a strictly business view this incident could result in disaster? Millions of dollars will be lost if Google must leave its 34 percent share in China’s internet market and its market share will most likely be cut down drastically. Google has cited their reasoning for the decision as the continuing deterioration of free expression in China and also a number of cyber-attacks that have been traced to China.

Since the company’s announcement, Google has been in talks with multiple Chinese agencies on how an unfiltered search engine would affect their Chinese operation. This past Friday, the Chinese Minister of Industry and Information Technology, Li Yizhong, warned that “if you insist on taking this action that violates Chinese laws, I repeat: You are unfriendly and irresponsible, and you yourself will have to bear the consequences.” This and other statements from Chinese leaders have supported the idea that China will not back down. Insiders of Google also believe that the company is prepared to stop censoring within weeks.

Companies around the world are watching this event unfold closely because it is one of the first mainstream challenges to China’s government policies by a company in twenty to thirty years. In the recent past, companies have accepted all of China’s policies and terms because it is such a huge and pivotal market. But Google is rewriting Chinese-International business relations on an unprecedented level. They are prepared to abandon their increasing market share to take a stand against what they feel to be unfair regulations. And it does not look like any agreement will be created between the two sides.

This is one of the first negotiations between China and a company that has been thrust into the public eye. An agreement will not be made, however, because both sides have taken a strong stance and will not be able to risk abandoning their views in front of an international audience.

This is also why, along with other companies around the world, the United States government is monitoring the Google-China talks with great interest. Since the Obama administration took office, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made the issue of Internet freedom a subject of US foreign policy. At this point, US officials have stated that they will not be involved with the Google-China dispute because, as of right now, it is only seen as a commercial issue. But if the company is forced to end Chinese operations and leave the country, this stance of uninvolvement will most likely come to end. The dispute will shift from a commercial issue to a human rights issue.

A US official wrote that “if the Google view prevails, that represents the expansion of [information freedom]. If the Chinese view prevails, then that has commercial and policy implications for the long term.” The dispute between both sides not only stands to hurt Google but also all United States companies and our government.

China’s government has bullied international companies into its human rights violating policies and forced them to make concessions long enough. Chinese regulations go against Google Inc.’s core values, namely free expression, and Google is pushing back. The US company has surely sent a shiver up the Chinese government’s spine by opening the door for other companies to resist conforming to all of their demands.

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