In the wake of Google's recent self-censorship in China, Microsoft's Bill Gates said censorship was no reason for technology companies not to do business in China, according to the Times Online. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, Gates said the internet "is contributing to Chinese political engagement" because "access to the outside world is preventing more censorship." Gates said the freedom of information is largely intact in China, despite state restrictions on sites discussing sensitive issues such as Tiananmen Square and Taiwan.

The three largest internet companies - Google, Microsoft and Yahoo - have been criticized by human rights groups for giving in to China's restrictions of free speech. Amnesty International said Google's self-censorship last week had "reinforced the trend in the IT industry of kowtowing to Chinese demands of censorship".

China's internet population, already the world's second largest after the U.S., rose to 111 million in 2005, according to the official China Internet Network Information Centre. It said the number of people with broadband internet access rose more than 50 percent, to 64 million, compared with 2004.