What should Google do about China, numerically the world's biggest Internet market, following the cyber-attack on its email service?

These are some options:

1. Stay, and continue kowtowing to the authorities by voluntarily filtering (read censoring) Chinese-language search results. Business is business, after all;

2. Pull out as a matter of principle or as a protest against media suppression in China, although these issues did not deter it before, and by all accounts the Chinese will miss Google less than Google will miss China;

3. Close its Chinese offices but continue its Chinese website, forcing the authorities to block or censor it themselves. This would reflect badly on the authorities, rather than on Google itself.

Personally, I vote for 3 (but then I'm not a shareholder). Are there better options? What do you think?

Alan,

Google hardly makes any news and is worthy of discussion
in China. It is only a tiny few uses google.com, they can
use it with VPN, no matter what google does. Google.cn
is dying anyway, and Google knows it. Baidu has said
it publicly.

Most people I know (myself included) in China don't really
care about Google. I use Google for searches in English,
but I use Baidu for Chinese. Baidu is superior than
Google.cn in Chinese.

Google is in the business of making profit by manipulating
information. The propaganda dept of Chinese government is
in the business of making power by manipulating information.
If you are in the business, you never fight against politics.
Politics always win against business.

Google does not realize it yet, but Google will lose big
from its arrogance. And the battle field is not about
search engine. It is about the mobile market (Andoid)
which Google has been investing on.

Get out and get lost Google! Just another American bully and hypocirte that try to force its dogma and control others.

There's enough american brain washing in this world, we don't need another.

Anyone that has actually lived in western world knows there is same amount if not more censorship and propaganda in these fake "free countries".

There are hundred of companies queuing to take google place so stand firm and strong China!

This is simply a publicity stunt in the western media. The fact is most people in China don't use google and don't give a damn if google get out.