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.