Google in China has been a very interesting topic, one that we are actually covering at the moment in a News and Views report. During my research for the project, as well as my own interest in the topic, I have come to the conclusion that Google is wrong for its actions, and that China is totally in the right on this one. Google has made possibly the largest, most epic business mistake of the new decade, as well as having angered the entire China government at the same time. Yes, the Chinese cyber-hacking was a foot across the line, but in typical American fashion, Google has taken on the role of the US Army in cyber-form, and gave China a quick ultimatum. "We're going to either do as we please, or we're not going to work with you at all and let you suffer the consequences" basically sums it up. with twenty six percent of China's ~1.4 Billion people (~360 Million) on the internet, it seems that Google would have wanted the remaining seventy four percent of the population to use Google as well and use other Google services. Instead, since there is no longer any competition, Baidu will take over the market share on an even larger scale.

What makes this a terrible problem for Google is the fact that they already have covered the rest of the world. They have made Beijing angry, and now they will never get their 15 minutes of fame, no matter how many times they apologize. Google, as an American company, even though they employ locals in China, does not understand Chinese culture, or how things work over here in Asia. Baidu on the other hand, since it is already censored and cleared with Beijing, will have a much easier time branching out to the rest of the world (and won't have to censor its results elsewhere). China only blocks things trying to come into China, and not the other way around (not talking about the censorship disputes within China though, only interaction with other countries).

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