Google is gaining market share in China and may give its office there more independence, reports The Financial Times.

Search market share in China, according to CEO Eric Schmidt, has grown faster in the last four months than during the preceding two years. It still trails the most popular search engine in China, Baidu. It wasn't clear which contributed more to the growth, local search or international. Before Google created a parallel version of its Chinese search engine - which censors results on sensitive topics, such as democracy, civil liberties and some religious sects - the Chinese government would occasionally turn off the site, or squeeze it with internet access brown-outs, which helped its indigenous competition quickly surpass it in traffic.

The increased success of Google's operations in China may lead it to grant its office there more independence. That would parallel the move made by News Corp, giving that firm more distance from public relations fiascos and more freedom of maneuver for the China unit. Such a move would make the local office more responsive to the local search, political and business climate. Schmidt also reminded watchers of Google's development in the region that with market share comes more potential for monetization.