Yahoo turns to Washington for help on China
Reuters
Published on ZDNet News: May 11, 2006, 11:35 AM PT
Yahoo said on Thursday it was seeking the government's help in
urging China to allow more media freedom, after reports linking
information it gave to Chinese authorities with the jailing of a
dissident.
Last month, the Internet media company was cited in a Chinese court
decision to jail an Internet writer for 10 years for subversion in
2003--the fourth such case to surface implicating Yahoo.
Yahoo Chairman and Chief Executive Terry Semel, speaking at an
event, said it had no choice but to comply with local laws and did
not have the power to change Chinese policy.
"Governments change governments. Governments who are in trade
together can certainly change governments," he said. "We tried and
we are going to continue to try as an industry to have our
government help us."
He also said that closing down Yahoo's operations in China would
not help boost free speech and he hoped other news and publishing
companies doing business in China would stay despite the
limitations.
"You have to get whatever news you possibly can into China as
opposed to pulling back," he said. "Will they be edited? Yes.
Should you go home? No."
The case was the latest to highlight conflicts of profits and
principles for Internet companies in China, the world's No. 2
Internet market.
Web search leader Google has come under fire for saying it would
block politically sensitive terms on its new China site, bowing to
conditions set by Beijing.