The chief executive of Google, Eric Schmidt, said this week he hoped to announce soon a result to talks with Chinese authorities on offering an uncensored search engine in China.

“Google has made its case, both publicly and privately,” China’s Minister of Industry and Information Technology, Li Yizhong, said, but did not confirm directly that his ministry was in talks with Google.

“If you don’t respect Chinese laws, you are unfriendly and irresponsible, and the consequences will be on you,” Li told reporters.

It was up to Google whether to stay in China’s market or not, he added.

Ministry officials have wavered between confirming and denying that talks are happening at all, in response to repeated media questions during China’s annual legislative session.

“This is really a hot topic, it’s easy and yet not easy to respond. A lot of these matters don’t fall under my ministry, ” Li said.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shares oversight of the Chinese Internet with a number of other bodies, while still more bureaucracies are involved in matters of foreign investment, complicating the Chinese government’s response to Google’s challenge.

Source : Konaxis