Google's China advertising clients urged to defect

HONG KONG: Google advertisers in China are being advised to switch to rivals such as Baidu, and business partners are exploring alternatives as speculation grows the US company will shut its website in the country.

“When we talk to clients, we have been pushing them in the direction of Baidu more,” said Vincent Kobler, managing director at EmporioAsia Leo Burnett in Shanghai, which buys advertising on behalf of customers. “The Chinese government has taken a firm stance, and Google, they have their own principles, and are going to shut down.”

Google clients and partners may be turning more pessimistic about the company’s prospects of operating in China after the government last week said a plan to end censorship at the Google.cn site was “irresponsible”. Failure to end the dispute may lift sales at Baidu and Sohu.com, and force partners such as China Mobile and Sina Corp to review co-operation.

“To me, it seems an inevitable outcome, given the stance they have taken,” said Paul Wuh, head of internet research at Samsung Securities Co. in Hong Kong. Google’s mobile phone operations, in addition to its search-engine business, will be undermined, Wuh said. Mountain View, California-based Google said on January 12 it plans to stop censoring search results on its Chinese site after the company was hit by cyber attacks originating in China, and may end its local operations pending talks with the government on the proposal. Chairman Eric Schmidt said last week that the negotiations may yield an outcome “soon”.

“Our co-operation with Google rests on the company maintaining its operations in China,” said Liu Qi, a Beijing- based spokesman at Sina.