China, US tread cautiously

Analysts say China and the United States are not ready to spar over Google's decision to effectively shut down its Chinese search engine, opting to focus on more serious issues that have strained ties.

A long-standing dispute over the value of the yuan, US arms sales to Taiwan and a recent visit to the White House by the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, outweighed censorship on the list of priorities, they say.

"Google is small potatoes compared to these other issues... that China regards as being part of its core interest," said Barry Sautman, a professor of social science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

"It has some symbolic value in terms of the ideological contest between the United States and China, but it doesn't go much beyond that."

China not worried about pull out

Google's move to redirect mainland web search queries to an uncensored site in Hong Kong on Monday drew an initial angry response from China, but Beijing later took pains to say there would be no broader fallout in Sino-US ties.

Washington cautioned China to consider the "implications" of the US Internet titan's announcement, but emphasised it was "not party" to Google's decision -- after calls from Beijing not to politicise the issue.

"They're trying to give a measured response -- it really isn't a political issue that should involve the two governments," said Bob Broadfoot, head of the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy.

"I don't think the Google issue is being viewed on the level of Taiwan, the Dalai Lama, China's exchange rate policy... These are issues that the two governments are focusing on."

Pull out could have fuelled tensions

Google's threat in January to leave China altogether over cyberattacks and Beijing's tough censorship rules sparked Sino-US tensions.

A speech by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Internet freedom added fuel to the fire.

Since then, China's anger over Washington's $6.4-billion arms sale to Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of its territory, and US President Barack Obama's talks with the Dalai Lama last month have eclipsed the Google issue.

The US also has increased pressure on Beijing over the yuan, which critics say is kept artificially low to boost Chinese exports. US lawmakers are clamouring for China to be labelled a currency manipulator by the US Treasury.

But censorship, which Google has cited as the reason for its decision, is not a major issue in bilateral relations, Sautman said.

"People realise that censorship is going to be in place for some time to come, at least with regard to the most sensitive issues," he said.

Russell Leigh Moses, a Beijing-based political analyst, said the two governments' muted response over Google was also due to uncertainty on both sides as to how they should proceed.

"I don't think a hard and fast decision has been made on the side of either government about how this is going to impact their relationship at large -- what we've got is a pause rather than an outright policy," he said.

Just ahead of the Google announcement, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Monday at a meeting in Beijing with top-level global business leaders that he was confident China and the United States could work through their disputes.

"Although there are conflicts and problems in bilateral economic and trade ties, I'm sure as long as we adhere to a spirit of mutual benefit and mutual accommodation on an equal footing, we can always find solutions," Wen said.

A day later, as the Google announcement was making global headlines, China said the next round of high-level strategic and economic talks with the United States would be held in Beijing in late May.

"What we're seeing is the robustness of the relationship -- that these ties are in fact tough enough to stand up to crises like these," Moses said.