No Sign Of Google At China State Dinner

One industry behemoth was conspicuously absent from the star-studded guest list for the White House's state dinner for China: Google.

Amidst U.S. efforts to beef up its business with China--Obama told President Hu Jintao, "We want to sell you all kinds of stuff"--the White House invinted an unprecedented number of business leaders and CEOs to the state dinner held Wednesday evening.

According to the White House's official guest list, the expected attendees included Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, GE CEO Jeff Immelt, Intel CEO Paul Otellini, Motorola Solutions CEO Greg Brown, JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, and Boeing CEO W. James McNerney, among others.

Although Google CEO Eric Schmidt and President Obama have a notoriously cozy relationship--Schmidt endorsed Obama, served as an informal advisor to his presidential campaign, and now belongs to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology--the executive was not among those attending the dinner held in honor of Hu, an absence that is especially notable given the search giant's clashes with China over censorship and intellectual property in recent years.

Last year, in a move that violated the country's official policy, Google stopped censoring Internet search results in China and began redirecting users to its Hong Kong service, which is not subject to the same restrictions. Though Chinese regulators renewed Google's Internet service license, allowing the U.S. company to continue operating in the country at least another year, it seems relations may remain strained.

Google was also targeted by cyber attacks originating in China that WikiLeaks cables later revealed had been masterminded by Chinese officials, including one who was reportedly displeased with the results Google returned when he searched his name.

Do you think Google was absent from the state dinner because of its tumultuous relationship with China? Weigh in below.

Comments

[ResearchtheFacts]

08:41 AM on 01/21/2011

JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein...what will they be selling but bad debt?

Obama insists on being cozy with these types of characters.  Didn't Jamie just get through bad-mouthing him?

[jackelshowl]

01:49 PM on 01/20/2011

Plain and simple China is a dictatorship in that it does not allow freedom of the press so of course Google wouldn't be invited to the dinner as they are in many ways a direct contradiction to this. Google represents some of the very best of American business while JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs represents some of the very lowest.

[JasonMcl]

10:21 PM on 01/20/2011

Well spoken. Google takes a stand against China's Golden Shield information vacuum while other companies just go with the flow.

China combines the absolute worst aspects of capitalism and communism together and creates a slave nation, the likes of which haven't been seen since the days of the Pharaoh's.

[EricBishop]

05:15 PM on 01/22/2011

Dictatorships need dictators. It might be time for you to throw a dictionary tab, as well as wikipedia, into your browser rotation.

Start with "oligarchy".

[Dan Lavry]

01:06 PM on 01/20/2011

So Google was not invited. But guess who was invited:

Blankfien (CEO of Goldman) and Dimon (CEO of JP Morgan Chase) are not being investigated. They were honored - invited to the white house state dinner.

It is time to put an end to any hope that Obama will go after the big financial criminals.
Only a complete fool cannot connect the dots.

[maxfax]

02:02 PM on 01/20/2011

They should not have been invited.

[pfz]

03:51 PM on 01/20/2011

Yep bailouts of aholes and unemployment for millions.

[dr042]

12:03 PM on 01/20/2011

one thing about our president is that he doesn't necessarily provoke, it would not have been in good taste to do so and we need a leader who understands the customs of other people

[macgyver51]

02:43 PM on 01/20/2011

Its also not in good taste to run a closed communist society where people are forced to work for dirt wages and free speech is oppressed. Grow a spine

[EricBishop]

05:17 PM on 01/22/2011

Yeah!!! Also, create a trillion dollars in wealth while you're at so we can stop borrowing from the Chinese.

[Sean Maj]

11:45 AM on 02/02/2011

Who do you think is setting up shop in China and paying out those dirt wages? Let me get this straight. You think it is China's fault that Nike and P&G and virtually every large American company has decided to manufacture in China? US consumer demand for Wal Mart, bargain basement prices and shareholder demand for cost savings drives low wages--not communist China.