Google move condemned by Chinese censors

More than two months after Google threatened to shut down Google.cn if it had to continue policing the site, it made the shift early yesterday Beijing time.

Visitors to Google.cn are now automatically redirected to the Chinese-language service based in Hong Kong, where Google is not legally

required to censor searches.

An unidentified official with the State Council Information Office, a Cabinet office that oversees the internet, said in a statement carried by the official Xinhua News Agency: "Google has violated its written promise it made when entering the Chinese market by stopping filtering its searching service and blaming China in insinuation for alleged hacker attacks.

"This is totally wrong. We're uncompromisingly opposed to the politicisation of commercial issues, and express our discontent and indignation to Google for its unreasonable accusations and conducts."

Google's Hong Kong page heralded the shift. "Welcome to Google Search in China's new home." The site also began displaying search results in the simplified Chinese characters used in mainland China.

The move, in effect, shifts the responsibility for censoring from Google and to the Beijing government, which operates an extensive monitoring and filtering system to block content deemed unacceptable.

In Beijing, a few Chinese passers-by laid flowers or chocolates on a large metal Google sign outside the company's office.