At noon yesterday, Li Kaifu, global vice president of Google and president of Greater China region, accepted the exclusive interview of our newspaper in Changsha. Afterwards, he continuously went to Changsha University of Science and Technology, Hunan Agricultural University and Central South University for "giving sermons", introducing the "cloud computing" that Google was currently promoting among the university students in Hunan and new technologies such as Chinese search, mobile positioning, intelligent search and cross-language search. During the one-hour interview, the master of Greater China region of this global Internet search engine giant timely responded to many hot topics that had just happened, including rumors about global layoff of Google, his opinion on pirated version of search engine "Baidu Hu" and how strong was the immunity of Silicon Valley against financial crisis.
No one says "Google does not understand Chinese"
Reporter: I remember it was September 2006 when I interviewed you last time in Changsha. It has been more than two years till now. During this period, you have done a lot of things. We also see that Google has made many strategic alliances in China. I wonder which progress do you value?
Li Kaifu: In the past, some people said that Google did not understand Chinese or other search engines understood Chinese better, but today no one says this sentence or say something not based on facts. Because, if you want to look at a Chinese search, you need to consider its accuracy, integrity, magnitude, updated contents, diversity and speed. All these indicators are leading now, which helps us build the best Chinese search engine.
Market share has increased by at least doubled
Reporter: Now, you have built the best Chinese search model. Is there any regret in this? Many people are wondering when Google can increase its market share higher so that they will have more choices. For you, is increasing market share an urgent problem to be solved?
Li Kaifu: Our market share has increased by at least doubled in recent years, but we are very confused that there is a voice in the industry saying that our market share is declining. We don't know why. According to the current competition trend, we should be optimistic about continuous growth, but it is hard to predict when it will reach 30% or 50%.
Avoiding talking about benefiting from Baidu's bidding ranking crisis
Reporter: Recently, Baidu encountered the crisis of bidding ranking resulting in unfairness accusation of search results. Many people said that Google would become the biggest beneficiary in this crisis of Baidu. Do you think this is a good opportunity for Google to enhance its influence and market share?
Li Kaifu: I don't know. We still adhere to our own values, focus on our users and do well in our products. We think what should come will come. We don't pay special attention to the past and future. Because our market share has been increasing. It is hard to analyze which factor plays a role. If it increases a lot, we may find out the reason.