China says it’s had no direct contact with Google on threat to leave the country

China: No direct contact with Google on dispute

BEIJING — A Chinese official says China has had no direct contact with Google over the company’s threat in January to shut down its China-based search service.

The China Daily newspaper reported Saturday that Miao Wei, the vice minister of industry and information technology, said there have been no negotiations with Google on that topic.

Some reports have said China and Google have held talks on the issue. Google had said it planned to talk with Chinese officials.

Miao was speaking on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress in Beijing.

Google in January threatened to leave China and said its e-mail service had been hacked from inside the country. China’s government denies any involvement.