A spokesman for China’s Commerce Ministry said there were many ways to resolve the Google issue, but repeated that all foreign companies, Google included, must abide by Chinese laws.

“Any decision made by Google will not affect Sino-U.S. trade and economic relations, as the two sides have many ways to communicate and negotiate with each other,” spokesman Yao Jian told a regular news briefing in Beijing.

Yet the U.S. State Department said on Friday it will ask China to explain the attacks.

“We will be issuing a formal demarche to the Chinese government in Beijing on this issue in the coming days, probably early next week,” U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters.

“It will express our concern for this incident and request information from China as to an explanation of how it happened and what they plan to do about it,” the spokesman added.

Playing down the concerns raised by Google, rival Microsoft Corp said it had no plan to pull out of China.

“I don’t understand how that helps anything. I don’t understand how that helps us, and I don’t understand how that helps China,” said Steve Ballmer, CEO of the world’s largest software maker.

Source : Konaxis