本周二，谷歌高級副總裁、首席法律顧問大衛?多姆德在該公司官方博客中發布聲明稱，谷歌公司總部將考慮關閉中文版搜索網站Google.cn，并有可能關閉駐中國辦事處。這份聲明表示，決定關閉“谷歌中國”站點和在中國的辦事處的導火索是，在去年12月中旬針對Google的網絡攻擊中，一些gmail賬戶的資料遭到竊取。另外，谷歌公司不愿意繼續審查“谷歌中國”搜索到的結果。如果有可能的話，接下來的幾周里，Google將和中國政府商議，在法律允許范圍內運行一個不必經過過濾的搜索引擎。如果不能達成協議，可能意味著將不得不關閉“谷歌中國”，甚至其中國辦事處。有分析人士認為，谷歌此舉是在向中國政府施壓，希望不會再受網絡搜索內容過濾的限制。不過，谷歌內部員工對雙方的協商結果并不樂觀。

Google - the world's largest search engine - said in a statement yesterday that it is considering exiting China after the company had been hit in December with major cyber attacks that it believes originated in the country.

Google's threat to pull out of China over what it claims to be cyber attacks has left millions of Chinese users concerned - and analysts described the move as the company's strategy to put pressure on the Chinese government.

Google - the world's largest search engine - said in a statement yesterday that it is considering exiting China after the company had been hit in December with major cyber attacks that it believes originated in the country.

It is not clear whether users in China, including many foreigners, would continue to access services such as Gmail and Google Map, should the company shut its service.

David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer, said in an unusual statement posted online that the company had detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack from China that resulted in the theft of the company's intellectual property.

"These attacks ... led us to conclude that we review the feasibility of our business operations in China."

He said Google will no longer continue censoring results on Google.cn, a Chinese-language website it launched in 2006, and is discussing with the Chinese government the possibility that it operate an unfiltered search engine within the law.

"We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China," he added.

The statement marks a shift in the company's China strategy for the past five years, which is to provide censored results under Chinese law through its domestic search engine in exchange for a presence in the world's largest online population.

That strategy helped Google take about 35 percent of China's search engine market in the fourth quarter of last year, according to domestic research firm Analysys International.

Google started a Chinese-language search service as early as 2000 but the company did not have a significant presence in the country until it established a China team in 2005 and launched Google.cn the following year.

Google's possible retreat from China has prompted the company's 700 China staff to fear for their jobs.

"At a general meeting on Wednesday, we were told that Google might quit China, and all of us feel very sad," said an employee with Google's Beijing office on condition of anonymity.

Drummond's post also said Google would try to negotiate with the Chinese government for more favorable operating conditions in China.

However, the anonymous employee told Xinhua that most Google employees are pessimistic about the outcome of the negotiations.

Dozens of Google users gathered at the company's headquarters in Beijing yesterday afternoon, some bringing flowers to say farewell.

Most of them were university students who came to pay tribute to the IT giant, expressing disappointment at its withdrawal from China.

Google is one of the few Internet giants that have a significant presence in China. Other firms such as Yahoo! and eBay Inc have given up on the China market after years of sluggish performance.

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(China Daily)

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）