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Google - Source: Reuters -
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Foreign firms, including Google, must respect Chinese laws and customs, China's foreign ministry spokesman said on Tuesday, a week after the world's largest search engine said it might pull out of China due to hacking and censorship.
Ma Zhaoxu also said he did not know whether Chinese officials had held talks with Google executives. Google said it would seek meetings on how to offer a legal, unfiltered search service after losing intellectual property to a sophisticated cyber-attack that also affected more than 30 other firms.
"The Chinese government encourages the development of the Internet," Ma said.
"Foreign firms in China should respect China's laws and regulations, and respect China's public customs and traditions, and assume the corresponding social responsibilities, and of course Google is no exception."
Ma's comments mostly repeated the foreign ministry's statements on Thursday, but this was the first time the foreign ministry referred directly to Google.
