Google to grow mobile ad businesses in China

Google Inc will continue to invest in China, where it has a testy relationship with the government, with a focus on growing its fast-growing display and mobile advertising businesses, its Asia chief said on Tuesday.

In a brief telephone interview during a visit to Taiwan, Google's APAC President Daniel Alegre said the company sees opportunities in connecting China's businesses with potential overseas customers.

"We continue to have operations in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou; we have a thriving engineering centre, our sales infrastructure is something that we continue to grow, and the display, export and mobile opportunities are growing much faster than we had ever predicted."

Specifically, Alegre focused on the display and mobile ad businesses in China, which have experienced robust growth. He also sees Google's presence in China as a way for small and midsize businesses in the country to connect with overseas customers.

But though Google is floating more business China's way, its relationship with the Chinese government remains strained, Reuters noted.

A series of cyberattacks launched against Google in 2009 were believed by many to have originated from China, though the government strongly denied any involvement.

Google itself ran afoul of Beijing in 2010 when it stopped censoring results for its China-based search engine. The turmoil eventually forced the company to move its search engine to Hong Kong.