State Department indicates Google-China announcement coming Monday

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Google announcement regarding China expected

WASHINGTON — A spokesman for the U.S. State Department says Google is likely to announce its decision shortly on whether to remain in China.

Spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters Monday that “we aware that there are strong indications of an announcement by Google this afternoon.” Crowley said the government would not comment on Google’s decision until after it is announced.

Google Inc. had no comment Monday.

The Internet company said Jan. 12 it was considering shutting down its China-based search engine, Google.cn, unless the government lets the company operate the service without censorship.

On Monday afternoon, visitors to Google.cn were being redirected to Google’s Chinese-language service based in Hong Kong. The page said, according to a Google translation, “Welcome to Google Search in China’s new home.”