[Renee Montagne:] NPR's business news starts with Google shifting China strategy. Google is still struggling to figure out how to operate in China's authoritarian Internet environment. The company shut down its mainland China search engine three months ago, saying it did not want to continue complying with Beijing's censorship rules. It began redirecting web surfers to its uncensored site in Hong Kong. But today Google says it won't do that anymore.
[Mary Louise Kelly:] Writing on a company blog, Google's chief legal officer said Beijing threatened not to renew its Internet content provider license. Google has other businesses in China, such as music downloading. And a Google spokeswoman says the company wants to continue operating those services.
[Renee Montagne:] In other news from China, Beijing today signed a landmark economic agreement with Taiwan. The pack ends tariffs on hundreds of products. It also gives Taiwanese firms access to key industries on the mainland. Taiwan has had concerns about being economically marginalized and China would like to show the benefits of closer ties between the long-time rivals.