CEO: Google Wishes to Remain in China

Google's Schmidt makes statement after release of fourth-quarter results.

Google is still censoring web search results in China but stated this policy would change, adding no further detail.

Discussions with the Chinese government and Google have begun, said Google CEO Eric Schmidt. He said on a conference call to analysts January 21 that Google wishes to continue its operations in the country.

Schmidt made the statement after the company released its fourth-quarter results, signaling a possible variation over the recent tensions between Google and the Chinese government.

According to Schmidt, Google continues to follow Chinese laws, providing censored results, "but in a reasonably short time from now, we will be making some changes there," said the CEO.

"We made a strong statement that we wish to remain in China," Schmidt said. "We like the Chinese people, we like our Chinese employees.

On the same day, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, delivered a speech in Washington D.C. calling on China to fully investigate alleged cyber attacks against Google. "The most recent situation involving Google has attracted a great deal of interest and we look to the Chinese authorities to conduct a thorough review of the cyber intrusions that led Google to make its announcement," Clinton said.

On January 13, China's official Xinhua News Agency quoted an unnamed official from the State Council Information Office as saying the Chinese government is collecting related information on the issue. And in its official response, China's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Jiang Yu said January 14 that foreign internet firms are welcome to do business "in accordance with the law."

At the conference, Google released its fourth quarter results with total revenue of US$ 6.67 billion, up 17 percent year-on-year. Company profit reached US$ 1.97 billion in the final three months of 2009, up sharply by US$ 382.4 million in the comparable period in 2008.

Figures show that 53 percent of Google's revenue came from the overseas market, topping US$ 3.52 billion.

Full Article in Chinese: http://business.caing.com/2010-01-22/100110261.html