Google has said it may pull out of China because of censorship and cyber attacks on rights activists.
The world's top search engine said it may close down its Chinese-language google.cn website and shut its offices after it uncovered sophisticated China-based attacks on human rights activists using its Gmail service around the world.
While word of Google's announcement spread quickly among China's internet users, the government and state media remained silent.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was seeking an explanation from Beijing on the Google case which raised ‘very serious concerns and questions’.
Relations between two of the world's biggest economies have been strained recently over climate change, trade and other matters. China is the largest lender to the US, holding around $800 billion in Treasury bills.
A Clinton aide separately said she planned to help citizens in other countries, including China, get uncensored access to the internet, and last week had met top executives from companies including Google, Microsoft Corp, Twitter and Cisco Systems Inc.
China's policy of filtering and restricting access to websites has been a frequent source of tension with the US and tech companies like Google and Yahoo Inc.
