Chinese telecom market open for Google’s Android: Chinese official

Google's threat to quit China this month over hacking and US criticism of Chinese internet censorship practices has soured economic ties between the two countries, that have had numerous disagreements over currency exchange, trade and US arms sales to Taiwan.

However, in a message that would help to get the relationship back on an even keel, a Chinese official has said that Beijing would not stand in the way of Google's Android mobile phone platform in the Chinese market.

Zhu Hongren, spokesman for China's ministry of industry and information technology, was responding to a question as to how use of the Android application in China would be affected by the internet giant's complaints against China.

He said he thought there would be no limit on use of any system so long as it complied with regulations in China, had sound negotiations and cooperation with telecom operators and obeyed relevant rules and requirement. Zhu was speaking at a news conference.

"The Chinese telecommunication market is an open market," he said.

China's mobile telephone sector falls under the ministry's oversight.