According to Voice of America News, the United States government will be staying out of any negotiations between the People’s Republic of China and Google following the infamous hacking episode.
US Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman said in an interview today, “This is an issue that will play out for some time between Google and Google’s partners here in China and the Chinese government, and they will make whatever decisions Google feels is appropriate. That won’t be influenced by the United States government.”
He also took the opportunity to take a swipe at China, saying, “This is an issue that impinges upon probably one of the most important of all the issues that we stand for as a country and that is freedom of expression, freedom of speech and Internet freedom.”
Clearly, this issue is of some concern to the US government. The attacks on Google were just part of a larger attack on US-based systems, not entirely unlike the Titan Rain attacks of a few years back. Having said that, it is a good that the US didn’t try to inject itself into this situation.
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If the US did anything beyond their normal criticism of China’s dismal free speech record, it would be perceived as the US overstepping its bounds and it could prompt further attacks, much like the removal of the Soviet statue in Estonia did. Besides, it’s Google’s issue, and it will likely do them some good to handle it on their own.
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