China’s antitrust investigation into Google, which does not offer most of its consumer-facing services including search and email in the country, seems to make little sense on the surface, but analysts said the move could be seen as a warning shot to the US and a threat to the Android operating system.
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The inquiry into Google was unveiled on Tuesday in tandem with China’s fresh tariffs on US imports and new export controls of certain minerals, as well as the addition of two US companies to China’s unreliable entity list.
Beijing also launched an investigation into US chipmaker Nvidia late last year, a move that was widely seen as retaliation against Washington’s escalated chip restrictions.
The move against Google showed that “Beijing has effectively fired a warning shot to Washington, signalling its readiness to retaliate,” said Angela Zhang, a law professor at the University of Southern California and author of Chinese Antitrust Exceptionalism: How the Rise of China Challenges Global Regulation.
While the one-line statement from China’s market regulator contained no details about the investigation, state media has suggested it was related to Android – Google’s open-source operating system.
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