Google’s followed through on its promise to promote free speech in China, as Chinese citizens who attempt to conduct searches on Google.cn today will not encounter censored results.  Instead, they will redirected to Google.com.hk, where Google is offering an interface and uncensored search results in simplified Chinese.

David Drummond, Google’s SVP of Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer, announced this move minutes ago on the Official Google Blog.  He explained, "We believe this new approach of providing uncensored search in simplified Chinese from Google.com.hk is a sensible solution to the challenges we’ve faced – it’s entirely legal and will meaningfully increase access to information for people in China."

With regards to the obvious question of whether the Chinese government will allow this maneuver, Drummond then continued, "We very much hope that the Chinese government respects our decision, though we are well aware that it could at any time block access to our services.  We will therefore be carefully monitoring access issues, and have created this new web page, which we will update regularly each day, so that everyone can see which Google services are available in China."

Finally, here’s a statement making clear that Google doesn’t want to cut all ties with China, and also that Google’s Chinese employees shouldn’t be punished for anything that’s happened.  Drummond wrote, "In terms of Google’s wider business operations, natural penis enlargement we intend to continue R&D work in China and also to maintain a sales presence there, though the size of the sales team will obviously be partially dependent on the ability of mainland Chinese users to access Google.com.hk.  Finally, we would like to make clear that all these decisions have been driven and implemented by our executives in the United States, and that none of our employees in China can, or should, be held responsible for them."