Control over information access in a society is like control anything else, whether it is opium or food safety. Google's use of directing Google.cn users through to Google.co.hk is "fundamentally politically subversive," as Mr. David M. Lampton says. It an abuse of the principle that underlies Hong Kong's governance of "one country, two systems," (New York Times) and was an aggressive attack on Chinese sovereignty.

The counter-argument is that China should allow Google to keep its search engine open in Hong Kong so that Chinese mainlanders can have access to the breadth of information on par with what the rest of the world can access. This is the only way that China can engage in commerce with other countries. Google already posesses a third of China's search engine market share, and if Google just disappears, loyal Googlers will experience a setback in business operations. Google's exit from China could be...
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