US might turn to WTO to pressure China

SEARCH GIANT Google wants the US to take its Chinese battles through the World Trade Organisation (WTO), according to a Business Week report.

This will no doubt further fuel the antagonistic relations between Google, the US and China.

According to the article, The US trade office has already initiated talks with the First Amendment Coalition to discuss how it can pressure China through the WTO. The problem the US and Google face is convincing the WTO that China has actually broken any of its regulations.

The only angle of attack the US can pursue is alleging that China is blocking Google and favouring domestic business instead. This is one of the WTO's principles that China automatically agreed to when it signed up nine years ago. Now this is a very specific WTO regulation and, if the US does choose to go down that line of attack, it's a very tenuous angle at best.

The problem for the US trade office is that the US government has already taken Google's side, turning a trade dilemma into a freedom of speech crisis thanks to speeches by US President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

But the last time we looked, the T in WTO didn't stand for freedom of speech. µ