【BBC20121030】中国的互联网公司能平衡民族主义和全球战略利益吗？

枣红马

Can China'sinternet firms balance nationalism with global dreams?

But for Baidu,China's biggest search engine company, the pixelated land grab could complicateits plans for global expansion and attempts to take on Google.

The flagappeared at the height of a recent clash between China and Japan over disputedislands in the East China Sea.

Tempers wereflaring, and in many Chinese cities people took to the streets after Japancontroversially bought the islands. The mobs targeted Japanese brands withattacks on retail stores and car showrooms.

On 18 September,as the nationalistic cries reached a climax on the street, Baidu put up animage on its homepage of the disputed islands, known as Senkaku in Japan andDiaoyu in China, with a flag claiming them as China's territory.

Clicking on theimage took users to a separate page that read: "The Diaoyu islands belongto China."

Users could thenplant their own digital versions of the Chinese flags on the islands.

It was a movethe company defended, despite taking the page down 24 hours later, and calledit an "outlet for patriotic ardour that is more rational" thanviolence.

However, formany experts it was an unnecessary provocation that highlighted just how muchChinese companies have to learn as they try to emerge from their protecteddomestic market and become global brands.

"We are notused to this, in most capitalist countries corporate patriotism is not manifestin this way," says Marko Skoric from the Wee Kim Wee School ofCommunication and Information at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

"It mightbe more like trying to keep jobs locally, but not painting your face in starsand stripes."

Internationalexpansion

Within China,the cyber-patriotism merely mirrored the nationalistic anger felt by those whotook to the streets in protest against Japan, and other internet companies hadsimilar displays.

Internet giantTencent's QQ website showed a banner marking the 81st anniversary of anincident that sparked Japan's invasion of Manchuria, remembered every year inChina.

But it could besomething Chinese companies may have to reconsider as they make their forayinto other markets, a process that has already begun.

Tencent has madeinroads mostly in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America with itsmobile QQ Browser, counting India and Indonesia as its biggest markets outsideChina.

It even has asmall presence in the US, where Chinese companies have perhaps faced thebiggest backlash and suspicion over close alignment with the government.

For its part,Baidu has only just started its expansion outside China with its Hao123directory listings site in Vietnam and Thailand. It has other projects in Egyptand Latin America.

It has also setup a joint lab in Singapore with the Agency for Science, Technology andResearch (A*STAR) which is developing natural language recognition technologiesto help Baidu localise its products for the Southeast Asia region.

Baidu commandsmore than 80% of the Chinese search market, according to iResearch based inBeijing, but has yet to launch its search service internationally.

It has plans todo just that by next year pitting it directly against the likes of Google andMicrosoft.

"The Chinamarket still has plenty of room ahead of it to grow, but from the inception ofthis company it was never planned as a just China company. We've always wantedit to be more," the director of international communications for Baidu,Kaiser Kuo, told the BBC.

Scrutiny

Chinesecompanies and their global ambitions have often made other nations nervousbecause of their links, perceived or real, to the Chinese government.

Do people indeveloping countries care if Baidu does this? Probably not”

Bill BishopTechnology Commentator

Thisapprehension was brought into sharp focus when aUS congressional panel warned thatChinese telecoms firms ZTE and Huawei pose a security threat and should not beallowed to partake in any mergers or acquisitions in the US.

The panel saidthe firms had not successfully proven they had no connection to China'sgovernment and military. Both firms have denied all accusations.

"As Chinesecompanies succeed in China and muster resources to begin to push overseas intoforeign markets... they are going to have to deal with some obstacles,"says Josh Ong from The Next Web website in Beijing.

"Thesecompanies are under a lot of scrutiny because Western governments andcorporations are learning how business is done in China and what that means forthings like national security and ethical concerns."

Some analystssay that is why emerging markets are the primary targets for some Chinesecompanies, where they might not face such scrutiny.

Bill Bishop, atechnology commentator in Beijing, says the show of Chinese nationalism on theisland dispute likely had very little effect on Baidu's reputation in themarkets it is currently looking to expand in.

"Do peoplein developing countries care if Baidu does this? Probably not," he says.

"Some ofthem don't necessarily disagree with China's approach to the internet."

China requiredinternet sites to adhere to its policies of censorship, often referred to asthe Great Fire Wall. Analysts agreed that the moves by Tencent and Baidu werelikely to have been in line with Chinese government expectations.

Road ahead

As they leavethe comfort of an environment they have learned to navigate for new worlds,these companies will inevitably face a bumpy road.

"ForBaidu's part they probably lost, from an international perspective, somerespect from people who thought they were better than that," says The NextWeb's Josh Ong.

And as theybecome more and more visible on computer screens around the world, balancingtheir nationalism with the sensibilities of their new audiences will betrickier.

"It's asign of young companies which don't have the international outlook, it's partof a maturation process if they want to go global," says Mr Bishop.

"For a longperiod of time there was no need to look outside China so it's going to takesome time to develop the expertise needed."