Google to restart China talks: Report

NEW YORK: Google and Chinese officials will resume talks about whether the US firm can deliver unfiltered Internet search results in the world's most populous country, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

It was unclear whether any progress was being made in the talks, or whether Google would be forced to follow through on its threat to shut down google.cn rather than censor it.

Google vowed in January to stop bowing to Web censors in China, in the wake of cyberattacks aimed at its source code and at Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists around the world.

Reports published in recent days quote US analysts that believe a Chinese freelance security consultant with government ties was the author of the code used in cyberattacks on Google and more than 30 other companies.

Unnamed investigators have also been cited as saying the cyberattack trail led back to computers at two schools in China.

The Chinese government and the schools have denied involvement in the wave of cyber espionage aimed at stealing trade secrets, source code, and intelligence on human rights activists.

US President Barack Obama said last month that he was "troubled" by the cyberattacks on Google and wants answers from China.

Meanwhile, Google has continued to filter search results in China and remained tight-lipped regarding discussions with officials in that country.

Google representatives and Chinese officials are to resume talks in coming days after a break for the Lunar New Year holiday, according to the Journal.