Beijing, July 11: Google’s license to operate in China has been renewed after it pledged to “abide by Chinese law”, an official here said today, making it clear that American search engine has to “abide” by regulations that warranted “intrusive censorship”.
An official of the Chinese Ministry of information told the state-run Xinhua news agency that the government had renewed the operation license of Beijing Guxiang Information Technology Co. Ltd., the operator of Google’s China website after it pledged to abide the Chinese law.
“After our assessment, we decided that Guxiang had basically met the requirements. Guxiang’s license renewal application is approved,” the official said.
In the application letter, Guxiang pledged to “abide by Chinese law,” and  “ensure the company provides no law-breaking content as stipulated in the 57th statement in China’s regulations concerning telecommunications.”
Guxiang also accepted that all content it provides is subject to supervision of government regulators, said the official.
Earlier this year, Google braced for a direct confrontation with the Chinese  government alleging “sophisticated” cyber attacks and intrusive censorship of information relating to Chinese dissidents. The company appears to have relented as China with over 400 million internet savy population was reluctant to forgo its 30 per cent market share established over the years.
The Chinese search engine Bidu controls 60 per cent of the market share. Though it shifted to Hong Kong, Google services were continued to be available in China through Google.Com.Hk. Its services were expected to become normal here in the coming weeks.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 11 Jul 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 11 Jul 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:00:00 IST