China renews Google licence
GOOGLE has sealed a deal Chinese authorities to renew its licence to operate a website in the country.
The move came after a row over censorship between the country and the search engine.
Google said last week that it would stop automatically rerouting users to its uncensored Hong
Kong-based search page, explaining that Beijing had indicated it would not renew its Internet Content Provider (ICP) licence if it continued to do so.
That had prompted speculation that China might use the opportunity to shut down Google’s China search page, which would have been a blow to its other business in the country.
A google spokeswoman said: “China has renewed our licence. We are very pleased that the government has renewed our ICP licence and we look forward to continuing to provide web search and local products to our users in China.”