Google rebels. China angry.

Google Inc's partial withdrawal from the China market brought swift condemnation from the government Tuesday while leaving Chinese Web surfers to wonder whether they would be able to access a new offshore search engine site or be blocked by censors.

Google's decision to move most of its China-based search functions to Hong Kong opened a new phase in a two-month-long fracas pitting the world's most powerful Internet company against a government that tightly restricts the Web in the planet's most populous market.

A few Chinese passers-by laid flowers or chocolates on the large metal Google sign outside the company's office building in northern Beijing.

"I don't know what the Chinese government will do to Google next," said Zhou Shuguang, a well-known blogger who uses the online name 'Zuola'.

"But I welcome the move and support Google because an uncensored search engine is something that I need."

Later Tuesday, the first evidence of commercial fallout came in a statement from an Internet company run by one of Asia's richest men, saying it has ended its affiliation with Google.

TOM Online, a mainland Chinese Internet firm controlled by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, said Tuesday it was stopping use of Google's search services after "the expiry of agreement".

"... As a Chinese company, we adhere to rules and regulations in China where we operate our businesses," the company's parent, Hong Kong-based TOM Group, said in a statement Tuesday.

It's still unclear whether other Chinese companies that partner with Google will follow suit.

After threatening to quit China over cyber attacks and legally required self-censorship, Google announced early Tuesday Beijing time that its Chinese search engine, google.cn, would automatically redirect queries to its service in Hong Kong, where Google is not legally required to censor searches.

The Great Firewall

The shift did not mean, however, that Chinese were suddenly allowed unfettered access to everything on the Internet.

Chinese government web filters - collectively known as the Great Firewall - automatically weed out anything considered pornographic or politically sensitive.

The move, in effect, shifts the responsibility for censoring from Google to the communist government.

Beijing responded swiftly, declaring that Google violated commitments it made to abide by China's censorship rules when it entered the China market in 2006.

"This is totally wrong. We're uncompromisingly opposed to the politicisation of commercial issues, and express our discontent and indignation to Google for its unreasonable accusations and conducts," an official with the Internet bureau of the State Council Information Office, China's Cabinet, was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency.

Google's move, however, marks only a partial retreat. It is leaving behind a research and sales division. Its map services and a free, advertiser-supported music portal still have their servers in the mainland, and its Gmail service remains available too.

Balancing act

"It's a balancing act. They are trying to leave, but not leave, stay but not stay," said Duncan Clark, managing director of BDA China Limited, a technology market research firm.

Google's discord with the Chinese government added to souring ties between Washington and Beijing over Taiwan, Tibet and trade and others economic issues.

Playing down the friction with the Internet company and with Washington, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said China had a right to filter content deemed harmful to society and national security and Google's response should not harm wider relations with the United States.

"The Google incident is just an individual action taken by a business company, and I can't see its impact on China-US relations unless someone wants to politicise that," Qin said at a routine media briefing.

Google's strategy leaves the google.com.hk search engine vulnerable to a total blockade. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, which is owned by Google, are completely shut out of the mainland.

The Mountain View, California, company also could see its existing operations foiled by a government unhappy about being challenged by a marquee foreign investor.

Despite reports saying a move was imminent, Google's decision caught Chinese users by surprise.

He Xinliang, an employee at an Internet security company in China's western city of Xi'an, first realised something had changed when clicked on google.cn but found himself on the Hong Kong site.

"I was more or less mentally prepared for this because it's been a hot topic for a while, but I was still just a little surprised," said He, who regularly uses Gmail, Google Docs and Google Calendar. "At least the page is still in simplified Chinese."

The Hong Kong page offers search results in the simplified Chinese characters used in mainland China in addition to the traditional characters used in the self-governed territory.

The State Council official said the government talked to Google twice to try to resolve the standoff and suggested that China's laws requiring Web sites to censor themselves was non-negotiable.

"We made patient and meticulous explanations on the questions Google raised ... telling it we would still welcome its operation and development in China if it was willing to abide by Chinese laws, while it would be its own affair if it was determined to withdraw its service," the official said.

- AP