beyondbrics

Three months after Google started redirecting Chinese web search users to its Hong Kong site, out of reach for Beijing’s censors, all has become quiet on Google’s China front.

The next challenge for Google is just around the corner: The government is set to hand out the first batch of licenses for online mapping services by the middle of next week. Google is unlikely to pass on the opportunity, but it will have some careful footwork to do in negotiating around new regulations that will once again favour domestic companies over foreign ones.

An official at the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping told beyondbrics, “We plan on issuing the first batch by the end of this month,” adding that applications by Baidu, China’s online search market leader, and Sohu, another local web portal company, were under consideration.

While nobody has said outright that Google could be facing problems, over the past year the regulator has stepped up restrictions on the sector mainly because the government views it as security-relevant, and the government has demanded the SBSM to consult the military on the sector’s regulation.

SBSM documents indicate that foreign companies will therefore be subject to a separate review procedure that could take longer and include more requirements than that for domestic players.

For foreign technology industry executives, this is reminiscent of the many policies China has launched in the past, always justified by a concern for national security, but whose main effect has typically been to benefit local industry.

Google has decided that keeping mum on the latest is the best option for now.

” We are examining the regulations to understand their impact on our maps products in China,” the company said Thursday.

Related reading:
Google’s China maps homepage, Google Ditu
Beijing clamps down on online mapping, FT
Google seeks Beijing license to provide mapping services, Wall Street Journal