http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html
Google declared that they’re going to try and negotiate with the CCP to uncensor their google.cn site. As most people are saying, the CCP will most likely not agree to this, which makes a lot of sense. If the CCP softens their hard line stance against Google, Bing is sure to follow, and then Yahoo! will jump on board, and close behind them Baidu will shout for equal treatment. Before long, the People’s Daily will be posting articles about how they should be uncensored as well. It’s not gonna happen.
But I’m actually very impressed with Google’s decision. I mean they are a corporation that is responsible to their shareholders. Doing business in China is profitable, whether or not censorship is taking place. Once Google announced this, their share price dropped like 1.5%. This isn’t so much Google going up against the CCP, but Google going up against their shareholders or, in broader terms, the ideology of their shareholders v. their profit.
I’m sure there are some pretty liberal folk who hold Google stock and sold it when they heard of the decision. I mean they might have cheered in their hearts, but they’re not willing to support human rights at the risk of their investment. Very few people would do this. Ideology is something abstract while money is something substantial. You can’t buy tacos with a belief, but you can with $1.10 at Taqueria Guadalajara in San Leandro.
