Google?s Android operating system should face no limits on its use by China?s phone companies so long as it complies with Chinese regulations, the government said Wednesday.
The comments come amid concern over the possible commercial impact of Google?s dispute with China over Internet censorship. ?As long as it fulfills Chinese laws and regulations and has good communication with telecom operators, I think its application should not have restrictions,? said Zhu Hongren, a spokesman for the ministry of industry and information technology, at a regular news briefing. ?The Chinese telecommunication market is an open market.? The ministry oversees China?s mobile telephone sector.
In soothing words for investors, a Chinese official said Beijing would not seek to stand in the way of Google?s Android mobile phone platform in the Chinese market. The spokesman for China?s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Zhu Hongren, was responding to a question about whether use of the Android application in China would be affected by the Internet giant?s complaints against China.
Zhu?s remarks appeared to underscore that the Chinese government does not want to scare investors by directly attacking Google, and is instead directing its ire at theUS government, which state-run newspapers have accused of ?politicising? the dispute.
Google Inc?s January 12 announcement that it will no longer censor results on its China-based search site has raised questions about the future of its other operations in China and whether regulators might try to limit its market access.