Chinese: Google Flap Is a US Conspiracy

Google is a puppet of US foreign policy, Chinese state-owned media are reporting, calling the company's threat to pull out of China unless censorship is dropped a conspiracy by the US government to interfere in Chinese politics. One paper quotes a political scientist saying, "the Google incident is not just a commercial incident, it is a political incident"—a direct reversal of the Chinese government's previous response to the brouhaha and a move that threatens to escalate US-China tensions, CNN reports.

The Chinese government denies the reversal, reports the AP, just ahead of a speech by Hillary Clinton on Internet freedom. Human rights groups counter the conspiracy theory with the argument that China is giving the "mealy-mouthed" Obama administration too much credit: "The Obama administration has been disappointing on China because it has not been willing to issue firm protests," a Human Rights Watch director said. (More Google China attack stories.)