Google in China

BEIJING, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Google claims e-mail files of human rights activists in China were breached by hackers and threatened to halt operations in the country.

Google said it was withdrawing from a scheme in which the Chinese version of its search engine was censored and could close the site and its business connections in China.

Google alleges accounts of activists both in and outside of China were "routinely accessed by third parties." The company said the hacking wasn't accomplished because of security issues with Google but perhaps by malware and phishing.

The Chinese news agency Xinhua reported Wednesday officials in Beijing were seeking additional information from Google about the threat to halt Chinese operations.

Xinhua quoted Shanghai International Studies University mass communication Professor Guo Ke as saying Beijing wouldn't change its stance on censorship of Internet search engines.

"It will not make any difference to the government if Google quits China; however, Google will suffer a huge economic loss from leaving the Chinese market," Guo told Xinhua.