Google stops censorship of China search engine

Google stopped censoring Internet search results in China in a move that was hailed by rights groups but drew an angry reaction from the Chinese authorities.

The Internet titan announced in a blog post that it had begun redirecting mainland Chinese users of its Chinese-language search engine Google.cn to an uncensored Google site in Hong Kong. Google's decision came a little more than two months after the Mountain View, California-based company threatened to close its Chinese operations because of cyber attacks it said originated from China.

China reacted angrily to Google's move saying it was totally wrong to stop censorship and to blame Beijing for the alleged cyber attacks that Google said targeted email accounts of Chinese human rights activists around the world.

"Google has violated its written promise it made when entering the Chinese market by stopping filtering its searching service," said the official in charge of the Internet bureau of the State Council Information Office. "We're uncompromisingly opposed to the politicisation of commercial issues, and express our discontent and indignation to Google for its unreasonable accusations and conduct," the Chinese official said.