Gmail was blocked in China on Friday, and remained down Monday, with many blaming the government for the censorship.
"There’s nothing wrong on our end," Google spokesman Taj Meadows
told The Wall Street Journal on Monday.
Technology and foreign business experts say that Google and China have had a strained relationship since 2010, when the company decided to stop censoring search results. Ever since, many of Google's services have worked only intermittently within the so-called Great Firewall of China.
Gmail troubles in particular arose in June of this year, when the free email service became inaccessible via web browsers. At the time, many suspected the service was suppressed ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests that turned deadly when the government cracked down on them.
Many Gmail users were able to continue accessing their Gmail accounts via third-party email applications like Microsoft Outlook, however that stopped working on Friday. The only chance users have of accessing their email accounts now is via virtual private networks (VPNs) and other tactics used to overcome the digital censorship.
According to The New York Times, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other U.S.-based sites have long been blocked in China, and Google's addition to that growing list has surprised few.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying was asked if the Chinese government was responsible for the non-functionality of Gmail over the weekend, but avoided giving a direct answer.
"China has consistently had a welcoming and supportive attitude towards foreign investors doing legitimate business here," she said. "We will, as always, provide an open, transparent and good environment for foreign companies in China."
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