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[nahia]

BEIJING: Hardening its stance, China on Friday said that world's leading search engine Google must obey its rules or "face the consequences" giving no indication whether it was ready to reach a compromise in the dispute over hacking.

It said the US internet company was welcome to stay and expand its business in China but at the same time it will have to face the consequence if it insists on doing things that violates China's laws and regulations.

"It is irresponsible and unfriendly if Google insists in doing something that goes against China's laws and regulations, and it will have to bear the consequence for doing so," said Li Yizhong, Chinese Minister of Industry and Information technology.

"Whether to withdraw from China or continue to stay is up to them," Yizhong told a press conference called to give details of China's talks with the company.

The Chinese top internet regulator's comments came a day after Google asserted that it was firm in its stance not to allow censorship of its web content in China.

"We are currently reviewing our business operations in China as we no longer feel comfortable censoring our search results in that country," Nicole Wong, Vice President of Google had said to an US Congressional committee.

"If Google decides to stay in China, we welcome and it will help boost the development of the country's Internet industry," Yizhong said.