14 DAY TRIAL // Google made some huge waves in January when it announced that it no longer wants to run a censored search engine in the country. There were those that questioned the company's motives but overall, the move got wide support in the US and internationally. Since then though, not much has happened, nothing has happened, in fact, by official accounts. Unofficially, the search giant has been in talks with Chinese officials and it looks like those talks have now resumed after being suspended for the Chinese New Year.
According to the Wall Street Journal, citing sources close to the matter, Google representatives and Chinese officials are set to begin talking again in the next few days in relation to the company’s operations in the country. There's no word on the progress of the discussions or if there is any resolution in sight. Still, it looks like any sort of agreement is at least weeks away, so there's little chance we'll get any sort of official progress report until then.
For its part, Google is refusing to confirm or deny any talks and, by extension, offer any details on their nature. "As we have repeatedly made clear, we are not going to be engaging in a running commentary about discussions we may or may not be having with the Chinese government," a Google spokeswoman told WSJ. On the Chinese side, things are staying equally quiet and officials have not confirmed any negotiations with the US-based company.
After operating for several years in the country, Google came out last month and said it is no longer willing to filter its local search engine Google.cn for content the government deems objectionable. There is very little likelihood of it being allowed to operate the search engine uncensored but the company has expressed a desire to stay in the country where it has a significant presence and more than 1,000 employees. The two sides have been said to be in talks, though it is now apparent that they were suspended for a period around the Chinese New Year.