Clinton Urges China to Investigate Google Case

By SIOBHAN GORMAN And SKY CANAVES

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made unrestricted Internet access a top foreign-policy priority and urged China to investigate cyber intrusions that led Google Inc. to threaten to pull out of that country.

The remarks come in the wake of accusations last week that Chinese hackers penetrated Google's computer networks. Mrs. Clinton called on the Chinese government to make the results of any probe "transparent."
The growing role of the Internet in foreign policy became clear last year during protests in Iran after allegations of election fraud. The government tried to crack down on protesters' Internet communications, but they circumvented digital blockades to send out video and Twitter messages about violence against demonstrators.
"Countries that restrict free access to information or violate the basic rights of Internet users risk walling themselves off from the progress of the next century," Mrs. Clinton said in the speech Thursday on Internet freedom at the Newseum journalism museum in Washington. She said the U.S. and China "have different views on this issue, and we intend to address those differences candidly and consistently" as part of a cooperative relationship.
She cited China as among a number of countries where there has been "a spike in threats to the free flow of information" over the past year. She also named Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.
"Some countries have erected electronic barriers that prevent their people from accessing portions of the world's networks," she said.
"They have expunged words, names and phrases from search engine results," Mrs. Clinton said. "They have violated the privacy of citizens who engage in nonviolent political speech."
Google said on Jan. 12 that it will remain in China only if the government relents on rules requiring the censorship of content the ruling communist party considers subversive. The ultimatum came after Google said it uncovered a computer attack that tried to plunder its software coding and the email accounts of human-rights activists protesting Chinese policies.

A State Department official said Thursday that the department hasn't yet registered a formal complaint calling for an investigation. State officials had said they would send the complaint earlier this week but have so far only held additional conversations with Chinese officials on the matter.
Google's complaints about cyber attacks and censorship in China shouldn't be "overinterpreted" or linked to Beijing's bilateral relations with the U.S., Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei said Thursday.
Mr. He's comments represent the highest-level response so far to Google's statement last week that it might have to leave the market. The official's statement came ahead of Mrs. Clinton's speech.

"The Google case should not be linked with relations between the two governments and countries; otherwise, it's an overinterpretation," Mr. He said at a news conference, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.

Chinese authorities have reacted cautiously to statements from Google and from U.S.-government officials, wary of openly fueling tensions with Washington and with Chinese Internet users, many of whom bristle at government censorship. Some state-run media have taken a more combative approach, portraying Google's moves as the result of its failure to beat domestic rival Baidu.com. An editorial in the Global Times newspaper on Wednesday charged that Google had allowed itself to be used by the U.S. government for political purposes and warned that Google would pay a high price for doing so.

Public opinion in China has been divided, complicating the government's response. Google's estimated 80 million Chinese users include a number of vocal supporters, some of whom have traveled to the company's offices to leave flowers and cards over the last week, and any sudden action against Google could give rise to protests that could embarrass the government. But there is also a vocal constituency of anti-Google Web users who are calling for China to stand up to unreasonable foreign demands.

The Xinhua report didn't specify what prompted Google's Jan. 12 statement, saying only that the company cited "disagreements with government policies and unidentified attacks targeting its services in China" as a reason for its possible withdrawal.

Mr. He's remarks indicate that Beijing is sticking to its low-key approach in responding to the Google case. Previously, lower-level officials have portrayed the matter as a legal and business issue that doesn't merit government-to-government discussion.

In Mrs. Clinton's speech before she explicitly mentioned the Google matter, she spoke broadly about the connection between information freedom and international business, reported the Associated Press.

"Countries that censor news and information must recognize that, from an economic standpoint, there is no distinction between censoring political speech and commercial speech," she said. "If businesses in your nation are denied access to either type of information, it will inevitably reduce growth."

"Increasingly, U.S. companies are making the issue of information freedom a greater consideration in their business decisions," she added.