Google, China: One China, Two Googles, How Many Deals?

Four-plus years of Google.cn:

Who’s Changed the Most: Google or the PRC?
* Google depicts Taiwan and People’s Republic of China as One
* No reports of Decreased Google self-censorship in the PRC
* Google’s Selective Transparency

[ABOVE: Google Analytics show the country of Taiwan as part of mainland China in the site's visitor tally map overlay. Click images to enlarge.]

ONE CHINA UNDER GOOGLE
Google’s China Policy Same As the Communists

IS THIS ANOTHER CONCESSION TO DOING BUSINESS IN CHINA?
How many concessions are too many?

It’s been over four years since Google.cn began and changes that Google intended for the Chinese users’ experience aren’t evident. However, the Google experience is different–for Google itself.

One could almost make the case that there are two Google experiences: one for China and one for the rest of the world. Which leads to a question.

Was one of the conditions of Google launching its Google.cn service the depiction of Taiwan as a part of mainland (Communist) China?

The search engine giant is not telling unsuspecting users of Google Analytics–which depicts Taiwan and Mainland China as the same country–and officially, the company isn’t saying, either.

When Google launched its site for mainland China (Google.cn) in 2005, there were protests on college campuses and elsewhere over the “filtering”–critics said “censorship”–in which the search engine giant had to participate, in order to launch the site. There was even a hearing before Congress.

The Googlization of China came with a different twist than in the USA: politically “sensitive” topics were verboten. “Tibet independence”, “Tank man” and images politically-inconvenient to the Communist Chinese leadership were kept from Google users searching for that information.

In effect, Google helped the Communist Chinese leadership erase history–at least as far as Chinese users searching for information are concerned.

Google maintains that if they don’t play along with the Chinese leadership, they’ll simply be unable to do business in the world’s most populous country.

The “filtering/censorship” issue was well-publicized.

However, the depiction of Taiwan, which is recognized by 23 countries and organizations such as the International Olympic Committee and the World Trade Organization, as part of the mainland, was not.

Looking at the map overlay in Google Analytics, a chance discovery was made a few days ago: Google depicts both countries as one. This is exactly the same policy as the People’s Republic of China.

The USA, Taiwan (Republic of China) and the PRC all do a complicated diplomatic dance over the status of Taiwan; the slightest changing of a word, or even a published newspaper account, is enough to set off alarms on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

So, for Google Analytics to portray the two countries as one, not just in China but to the rest of the world, was unexpected.

For the most part, the Taiwanese are adamant about their not being part of the PRC. The Communists are just as insistent that Taiwan is nothing more than a renegade province. International news organizations often report that “China considers Taiwan a renegade province that must be united with the mainland by force if necessary”.

As stated, it’s a delicate dance.

[ABOVE: Though Google shows visitors from the two countries as separate tallies, the countries are shown as being one. Click images to enlarge.]

But is Google only dancing with one partner, the Communist Chinese?

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