Foreign media said that Google will not return to China in the short term: the fundamental problem has not been solved

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According to foreign media reports, although Alphabet's Google search service has long been withdrawn from the Chinese market, a recent move by Google has sparked the imagination of some investors. They suspect that Google may soon change its attitude and return to China, the world's largest Internet market.

Under the guidance of the "Don't be evil" principle, Alphabet's Google search service withdrew from the Chinese market in 2010. However, the Chinese search market was not affected and continued to move forward. Although Alphabet's current business philosophy is somewhat similar to the past, it has been transformed into a different set of guiding principles. Will Google's attitude towards the Chinese market change?

Last month, Alphabet made its largest investment in China since it withdrew from the Chinese market in 2010, raising doubts among some investors about Google's long-term strategy in China. However, for a variety of reasons, this move cannot be seen as a signal that Alphabet intends to return to the Chinese market in the near future.

Google recently led a Series C round for Chinese voice search provider Mobvoi, according to multiple sources. While it is unclear how much Google invested, multiple media reports say it now holds a 10% to 15% stake in Mobvoi, which was founded in 2012 by two former Google researchers.

However, the relationship between Google and Mobvoi is more than just the two parties of a venture capital transaction. Google and Mobvoi also have a business partnership, using Mobvoi's voice recognition technology to support the voice search function of Android Wear in the Chinese market.

Perhaps the source of the investment is more important. The investment did not come from Google Capital or Google Ventures, the investment arm of Alphabet, but from Alphabet's core Google search engine business. This has established a direct relationship between Google Search and the Chinese mainland market for the first time in five years, which is also the main reason for investors' speculation.

However, even if this is indeed some kind of proof that Google is re-approaching the Chinese market, I do not think this means that Google will return to the Chinese market in the short term, and this investment transaction cannot constitute the basis for Google to return to the Chinese market.

I believe that the core issue of whether or not Google can or will return to the Chinese market is that its business model is in fundamental conflict with the business environment of the Chinese market. This conflict is essentially political rather than commercial. If this conflict is not resolved, Google will not be able to return to the Chinese market.

Google's return to the Chinese market also faces an important problem. Baidu, the leader in China's search market, already has a market share of about 70%. If Google can return to this market, can it compete with Baidu?

Compared with returning to the Chinese search market, Alphabet is more likely to open an Android app store in China, and most industry insiders also believe so. According to a reliable online media report, Google will soon launch a dedicated version of the Google Play app store for Android devices in China. From a long-term perspective, this may help Google gain greater control over the Android platform in China, an increasingly important mobile market.

However, despite its growing ties to the Chinese internet market, it does not appear likely to reopen its key search business in the Chinese market unless there are substantial changes to China’s censorship system.