Business
Obama Backs Google In Dispute With China
The Obama administration has leapt to the defence of Google after the internet search giant threatened to pull the plug on its Chinese operations.
Google has threatened threat to quit China
Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, demanded “an explanation” for Beijing of Google’s allegation that its Gmail email system was infiltrated. “The ability to operate with confidence in cyberspace is critical in a modern society and economy,” she said.
Robert Gibbs, Mr Obama’s press secretary, emphasised that the President backed internet freedom and said that Google had co-ordinated with the Obama administration before it had acted.
The alleged cyber attacks have further strained Sino-US relations that are already fraying over issues of trade, currency, climate change and arms sales to Taiwan.
“We have been briefed by Google on these allegations, which raise very serious concerns and questions,” Mrs Clinton said.
Mrs Clinton had also met executives from Google and Microsoft, as well as with Cisco Systems, which provides much of China’s internet infrastructure, to discuss how to stop countries from “stifling” access to information, the state department added.
Next week the US is to launch a new technology policy to help citizens in other countries to gain access to an uncensored internet.
The Chinese authorities said they were seeking clarification over Google’s demand it be allowed to operate its Google.cn search engine free from the increasingly draconian censorship of the Great Firewall of China.
China has spent millions trying to project it’s ‘soft power’, however analysts said its rulers now faced a choice between protecting its power at home and suffering the embarrassment of being rejected by one of the free world’s biggest brands with negative consequences for the investment climate.
“It is setting us up for a clash, and it’s interesting to see who backs down. It’s the US versus China, but the companies will be lobbying,” said Chris McNally, a China analyst at the East-West Centre in Hawaii.
A spokesman for Google said the company was ‘in talks’ with the authorities, while outside Google’s offices in Beijing a handful of citizens braved the cold to lay flowers ‘in mourning’ at the prospect of Google’s departure from China.
Despite hopes that China would start to relax freedom of speech restrictions after the 2008 Olympics, China has in fact tightened of internet controls, blocking popular as social networkings sites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
The issue of censorship was raised by the US President Barack Obama on his maiden visit to China last November when he told an online town hall that he was “a big supporter of non-censorship.”
“I can tell you that in the United States, the fact that we have free internet – or unrestricted internet access – is a source of strength, and I think should be encouraged,” he said, to the evident irritation of his hosts.
The decision by Google to break ranks from other big corporations doing business in China and openly criticise the country’s autocratic leadership comes after four rocky years during which Google was forced to compromise its core belief in the free-flow of information.
Announcing its sudden change of heart on the company’s blogsite, David Drummond, Google’s chief legal officer, said: “These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered – combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the Web – have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China.
“We are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all,” he said.
Human rights groups, which have criticised Google’s decision to submit Chinese censorship after setting up in China in 2006, applauded the company’s stand. The New York-based Human Rights Watch described it as “an important step” to protect human rights online.
“Through international pressure, finally a big business in the West has come to realise its own conscience,” said the prominent Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng who lives in exile in the United States after 18 years in prison in China.
“Some Western businesses thought that by making compromises with the Chinese communists’ regime, they could do business as they wished.
However, this is impossible because the Chinese government would not be satisfied.”
“Payment of tuition fees for undergraduate/postgraduate studies shall be subject to a maximum limit of $25,000.00 per semester,” the Manual states.
The expansion of international card limits also reflects growing confidence among lenders that foreign exchange liquidity has improved enough to support retail dollar transactions.
Speaking recently at the BusinessDay 14th Annual CEO Forum in Lagos, CBN Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the CBN said buying and selling activities now increasingly determine outcomes in the foreign exchange market, unlike in the past when market participants relied heavily on routine Central Bank interventions.
According to Cardoso, Nigeria’s net foreign exchange reserves have risen from just over $3 billion at the start of the reform programme to more than $40 billion, while gross reserves have climbed to about $52 billion, providing stronger confidence for investors and enabling the Central Bank to reserve interventions for periods of market stress rather than day-to-day liquidity management.
The restoration and expansion of international naira card spending limits are increasingly being seen as one of the clearest signs that the benefits of the CBN’s foreign exchange reforms are beginning to reach households, students and businesses making legitimate cross-border payments.
The Secretary-General and Chief Executive Officer, WEC, Dr Angela Wilkinson, disclosed this in a statement, last Thursday.
“Nigeria’s participation comes at a pivotal time as the country seeks to expand energy access, strengthen energy security, accelerate gas development and mobilise the capital required for industrialisation and sustainable economic growth.
“WEC Nigeria will convene leaders from across the energy ecosystem, apply the WEC’s globally recognised Energy Trilemma framework to Nigeria’s unique context, and promote evidence-based dialogue, practical collaboration and informed policymaking.
“It will also ensure that Nigerian and broader African perspectives contribute meaningfully to global energy conversations,” she said.
Wilkinson expressed confidence that Nigeria would play a significant leadership role at the World Energy Congress scheduled for Riyadh in April 2027 and beyond.
The statement also quoted the Chairman of WEC Nigeria, Isa, as describing the country’s participation as an opportunity to deepen national and African leadership within the global energy community through practical solutions tailored to regional development priorities.
He said the platform would promote collaboration across sectors and attract sustainable investments into Nigeria’s energy sector.
The Chief Executive Officer of WEC Nigeria, Wunti, was quoted in the statement as saying that the council would connect leadership, evidence and investment to build a secure, affordable and sustainable energy system.
“This system will be capable of driving economic growth and shared prosperity.”
According to him, the platform will also connect Nigerian institutions and businesses with international knowledge, technology, partnerships and investment opportunities through the World Energy Council’s global network.
Recall that WEC, founded in 1923, is the world’s oldest independent and impartial community of energy leaders and practitioners, advancing informed, collaborative and practical action across the global energy system.