Google reportedly planning April shutdown in China

Google is reportedly preparing to shut down its operations in China over the next few weeks.

Chinese news service China Business News cited companies partnering with Google in reporting that the search giant would be closing its operations within the country on 10 April.

The latest report fits in with a similar report from Monday which said that Google was prepared to walk away from discussions with the Chinese government.

The two sides have been at odds over the year on the issue of censorship. Google has vowed that it will not limit user access within China, while authorities in Beijing have declared that the company will not be able to operate within the country unless it agrees to censor its search results.

Further fanning the flames between Google and China was the 2009 targeted attack on the company's systems. Google believes that individuals working with the government's blessing attempted to infect the systems of Google employees with malware in an effort to steal corporate data.

The company was one of more than 20 firms to report such an incident in a campaign which has come to be known as Operation Aurora. In addition to security concerns, the incident caused other companies working within China to re-examine their own operations.