Google officials said, "A primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists."

The company did not point directly the finger at the Chinese government. It did say however that if the things get worse, it might shut down its offices and stop its activities in the Asian country.

The Mountain View, California-based Google had been in the eye of the storm for some time for its cavalier attitude towards Beijing’s internet censorship.

In its defence, the company said that it is under an obligation to respect the laws of the country where it does business. Some suspect however that it went further, and provided Chinese authorities with data about dissidents that used its service.

Google’s new posture could turn out to be just a stunt since servers that monitor internet traffic are already located in China and are under Beijing’s jurisdiction.

Whatever the case may be, Google’s attack has focused attention on the matter in the West. The United States has called on China (and every other nation) to keep internet secure.

“Every nation has an obligation, regardless of the origin of malicious cyber activities, to keep its part of the network secure. That includes China,” said US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley.

Chinese dissidents and pro-democracy activists welcome Google’s statement. “Through international pressure, finally a big business in the West has come to realise its own conscience,” prominent Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng said.

“Some Western businesses thought that by making compromises with the Chinese communists' regime, they could do business as they wished. However, this is impossible because the Chinese government would not be satisfied,” said Wei, the founder of China’s pro-democracy movement who now lives in exile in the United States.