Google Vs China - Clash of the Titans

 Source: Google

Nearly 2 weeks has past since the recent showdown between Google and China over Beijing's censorship rules.  The massive argument resulted from strict censoring of the Internet in china, censoring that returned thousands of blocked websites for certain "taboo" search terms in China, such as "dalai lama" or "Tiananmen Square". As such, China's censorship policy is directly contradictory to Google's motto of providing free and unrestricted information to anybody and everybody in the world. Hence, the discontentment of Google. 

Furthermore, China is infamous for pioneering the development of sophisticated cyberspying and cyberattacking/hacking apparatus. This is  justified by the steep rise in hacking originating from China of not only human-rights organizations, but more importantly and shockingly, foreign businesses and governments as well. As such, China is considered as dangerous as they own the latest hacking tools that most countries are not even aware of yet. Because of this, the moderate tension between the two civilizations, China and Google, has spiked into a full-fledged fight.

Due to the difference in view of the dissemination of information online and contradictory practises between the two titans , Google and China are at loggerheads with each other, with Google debating whether or not to pull out of the China market since China refuses to compromise. Who will win the Internet war? Google or China? Only time will tell… (watch out for my next post)

Reflections:

I feel that the main issue of the article is whether or not Google will decide to pull out of the China market due to the difference in opinions on how they should operate. Related secondary issues would be China's sneaky, behind-the-scenes tactics and how it is fast emerging as one of the most technologically advanced nations in the world. Also, I can infer that the writer of the article in Newsweek favors Google slightly over China as the former is depicted as the innocent party while China is portrayed in a bad light. However, I would take the point of view of the writer as I have sourced for and read many articles on the World Wide Web concerning this incident and found that most of them take the stand of the writer. I believe this is because they feel China should be more transparent about their methods to keep track of organizations and individuals alike and also more democratic and not ban certain website from being accessed, just because they are contradictory to China's view. 

Furthermore, I feel that modern China strikes a far cry from the once rural, isolated nation.  There was once, a few decades back, when China depended heavily on business from Western capitalist countries the USA. However, over the years, China's own internal market has expanded tremendously; its exports to non-Western countries significant and capital vault vast. No longer is it the agricultural, backward nation it once was. In fact, China's urban, public sector generates more revenue than the rural, private sector. It is on par with the US. However, because of the great leap forward for China, China is less willing to accommodate itself to Western ideas, companies and governments. In a sense, China feels it is one of the world's major powers and wants to be treated as such, becoming cocky and focusing more on internal dynamics, less focused outwards as it climbs the economic ladder. Once a upon a time, it would not have dared to oppose such a massive company like Google as it relied heavily on foreign business. Now, it faces straight up to Google and dares to push for their own ideals.