Google updated its official blog today to inform everyone that China has renewed their Internet Content Provider (ICP) license. It does appear so far that the Chinese government is accepting Google changing an automatic redirect into a one-click redirect.
Former CNN Beijing & Tokyo bureau chief Rebecca MacKinnon shares many of the same thoughts I’ve previously expounded on and articulates her speculations as to why China granted the renewal:
Since Chinese regulators don’t confide in me personally I can only speculate on their motivations. It seems that the pragmatists have prevailed over the ideologues in this case. If Google’s web license were to be denied, Google would be shut out of China completely. That sends a very negative message to the international business community, which is already concerned about China’s politicized business environment. Questions would be raised about barriers to trade. The problem could be taken to the governmental level at a time when the last thing the U.S. and China need is more cause for tension. Now that Google.cn is in technical legal compliance and the uncensored search engine has been taken offshore out of mainland Chinese jurisdiction to Hong Kong where it is perfectly legal, it’s better for Chinese regulators to declare victory and allow Google to pursue business activities in China that do not run afoul of Chinese regulations: R&D, advertising sales, mobile operating platforms, etc.
She goes on with more detail so I recommend reading her whole post1.
- Unfortunately, her blog is also blocked in China like our’s, so here’s her RSS feed if it helps. [↩]
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