We know China is a Goliath, but is Google now willing to use its slingshot to give it a black eye? Google is at last standing up to China, going to pull the plug rather than give in to China’s demands to censure sites relating to democracy, Tibet and other irritants to the status quo.
Some say this is just a convenient way for Google to leave China, given that the home grown search engine is dominant. Others say this conflict is representative of many other Davids with chips on their shoulders (or in their factories) who are weary of the way the Chinese government bullies business.
Having two bob each way is not sustainable: allowing nepotism and restrictive business practices to go unchecked, while pretending that China has an open economy that embraces the even playing field of the rule of law.
Either the internet is an open platform that encourages innovation, or it is the property of the goverment in aid of a controlled economy that plays favourites and restricts real social improvements.
Hard to say what the unintended consequences of openness are, but attempts at total control tend to go towards the oligarchical model and then, ka-boom! another revolution in the making.
But the Chinese are real smart, and long-sighted. They should know where their best interests lie. But I’m just an arm chair economist, wondering where my model of the Harbour Bridge was made….