China called on Google Inc. and other foreign investors Friday to respect its rules and regulations and said no matter what decision the Internet giant makes on its China operations, it is unlikely to affect overall U.S.-China trade relations. Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Yao Jian said the country would continue to support foreign investment in the country, but said foreign investors must respect China's situation. The remarks were the most detailed response by a Chinese government official since Google said earlier this week that it would stop censoring content on its Chinese site and threatened to pull out of the country altogether after attacks on its computer system that it said originated in China.

 China Holds Its Ground Against Google1:36China told companies to cooperate with state controls and that it's Internet policy is "open." Google is threatening to shut down Google.cn after it found cyber attacks originating from China. Video courtesy of Reuters.
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"All foreign investors in China, including Google, should comply with international norms, respect the rules and regulations of the host country, respect the public interest and legal traditions and shoulder social responsibility," Mr. Yao said at a routine press conference.

Mr. Yao's comments follow strong backing for Google from the Obama administration. "The recent cyber intrusion that Google attributes to China is troubling and the U.S. government is looking into it," White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said Thursday. "We applaud Google's decision to discontinue censorship of search results on google.cn."

Despite such statements of concern by U.S. officials, Mr. Yao said China is confident bilateral ties with the U.S. will continue to develop in a healthy manner.

 Possible Google Shutdown Has Some Chinese Worried3:04Internet users gathered outside Google headquarters in Beijing after the company's announcement that it may pull out of China. WSJ's Aaron Back reports.
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"I think no matter what decision Google makes, it will not affect the big picture of China-U.S. trade relations," Mr. Yao said. "The continuation of China's stable...and high-quality development benefits not only China, but also the rest of the world," he added. "So I think Google should make the right decision."

Thursday, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, asked about Google's allegations of cyber attacks, emphasized the illegality of such attacks under Chinese law.

China's Internet population is the largest in the world, with new data Friday from a government-linked agency putting it at 384 million at the end of 2009, up from 338 million six months earlier. The figures from the China Internet Network Information Center imply that China has added new Internet users at a rate of 250 000 a day.

Since Google threatened to pull out of China on Tuesday, many Chinese Internet users have fretted that they will lose access to the wide range of services Google offers besides simple Internet search.

 Associated Press Xiao Jing, a 2-years-old Chinese girl from Chengdu, looks at the Google logo outside the Google China headquarters building in Beijing.
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Services such as Gmail are entirely independent of the Google.cn search engine, which Google says it will no longer censor and is willing to shut down. But customized, Chinese versions of other services such as Google Maps are integrated with the google.cn site.

Nonetheless, a person close to the company said Friday that Google can easily move such functions for Chinese users to other sites.

Journal CommunityVote: Should Google leave China? Vote: Should other multinational companies join Google's threat? Discuss: Will Google's gambit help improve human rights in China? .
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On Google's Israeli site, google.co.il, for instance, users can easily switch between Hebrew, English and Arabic interfaces. Google hasn't made any decisions on the matter, the person said, but added that there is no reason Google couldn't make a Chinese-language interface, complete with services targeting mainland Chinese users, available on sites other than google.cn.

Google has Chinese-language sites in Taiwan and Hong Kong, but the interface on those sites uses traditional Chinese characters rather than the simplified characters used in mainland China. Those sites could be logical places for Google to add a simplified Chinese interface.

That said, if the conflict between Google and China escalates, the Chinese government could choose to block access to any number of Google sites and services, as it now blocks access to Google's YouTube. Beijing could even block access to Google's main site, google.com, but it is far from clear whether Beijing would be prepared to take such a provocative step.

The person said that as of Friday, Google is still censoring search results on its Chinese site, google.cn. Google intends to stop censoring the site, the person said, but it has not yet decided on the exact timing of the move.

* This article was published by The Wall Street Journal. JANUARY 15, 2010.