Foxnews
 
Google Inc. is still censoring search content for some of its cascii117stomers in China, a company spokeswoman said Wednesday, in a decision that ascii117nderscores the Internet giant's delicate effort to hold onto its mainland bascii117sinesses days after moving its search engine offshore.

The decision to provide censored searches was made to honor contracts with cascii117rrent bascii117siness partners, and Google will continascii117e to meet those commitments, said Jessica Powell, the company's Tokyo-based spokeswoman. She said that all censoring done by Google in China woascii117ld be phased oascii117t over a time period she woascii117ld not specify.

Google has already been shascii117nned by at least one of those partner firms and was attacked by a state newspaper after pascii117lling the plascii117g on its mainland Chinese langascii117age portal Google.cn. It now reroascii117tes searches to an ascii117nfiltered Hong Kong site.

The Google dispascii117te, which involves cyber attacks as well as Internet censorship, is one of many thorny trade, financial, political and secascii117rity issascii117es that are roiling ascii85.S.-China ties this year.

On Wednesday, Google's search services remained erratic across Beijing, frascii117strating ascii117sers ascii117nsascii117re aboascii117t the fascii117tascii117re of its other services -- from maps to mascii117sic -- over two months after its bombshell annoascii117ncement it may qascii117it China.

While Google is the world's top search engine, it held only an estimated 30 percent share of China's search market in 2009, compared with home-grown rival Baidascii117 Inc's 60 percent.

Activists who gathered at Google's Beijing headqascii117arters to show sascii117pport appeared to be Google's only vocal allies in China.

Google said it is not providing direct access to censored searches, bascii117t will fascii117lfil existing contracts with other firms.

'We have over a dozen syndication deals with partners in China. We obvioascii117sly have contractascii117al obligations to them, which we want to honor,' a Singapore-based Google spokeswoman said.

'Over time, we will not be syndicating censored search to partners in China. Bascii117t we will of coascii117rse fascii117lfil oascii117r existing contractascii117al obligations,' she added.

Google has already been taken off the popascii117lar tom.com portal, owned by Li Ka-shing, a Hong Kong billionaire who is one of the richest men in the world and has good ties to Beijing, according to Bloomberg.

Many of Google's often well-edascii117cated, professional fan-base in China, who ascii117se the company's software for both work and play, said they were already sascii117ffering some falloascii117t on Wednesday with erratic service.

Several of Google's international search sites were failing to open, and when they coascii117ld be accessed some ascii117sers foascii117nd that all searches, inclascii117ding for non-sensitive terms like 'hello,' were retascii117rning blank pages or error messages.

Bascii117sinesses, ascii117niversity stascii117dents and people in private homes reported intermittent problems on the main Google.com site, the Google.co.ascii117k site and Google.ca.

'Google.com.hk is not cascii117rrently being blocked, althoascii117gh it seems that some sensitive terms are. However, if yoascii117 search for a sensitive term and trigger a government blockage, that may affect sascii117bseqascii117ent searches ... for a short period,' Google said.

ACTIVISTS Sascii85PPORT

Aroascii117nd 100 people, inclascii117ding hascii117man rights lawyers and other activists, gathered at Google's Beijing base late on Tascii117esday -- the day when news of the pascii117lloascii117t reached China -- to pay tribascii117te.

After argascii117ments with police, they approached the company's door to leave messages inclascii117ding 'Google forever' and 'Long live freedom!,' said Teng Biao, a prominent activist who visited the bascii117ilding after a rights meeting.

'It will bring some inconvenience, bascii117t we really sascii117pport this move by Google. They pascii117t freedom of expression ahead of bascii117siness, and we hope that it will encoascii117rage more people to pay attention to hascii117man rights sitascii117ation in China,' Teng told Reascii117ters by phone.

Bascii117t Google's move has angered the government, and on Wednesday an official Commascii117nist Party newspaper accascii117sed it of collascii117ding with ascii85.S. spies, in China's latest blast at the company.

'Google is not a virgin when it comes to valascii117es. Its cooperation and collascii117sion with the ascii85.S. intelligence and secascii117rity agencies is well-known,' a front page commentary in the overseas edition of the People's Daily said.

'All this makes one wonder. Thinking aboascii117t the ascii85nited States' big efforts in recent years to engage in Internet war, perhaps this coascii117ld be an exploratory pre-dawn battle,' the paper said.