Google.cn quitting China stirs up widest media concern in China. Foreign journalists are filming the Google China headquarters at Google Building, Zhongguancun, Beijing. [CFP]

Netizens said Tuesday Google's withdrawal from the Chinese mainland was only a "publicity stunt" while experts believed the online search giant had abandoned its cheese when no others moved it.

Google announced Tuesday morning that it had stopped censoring its Chinese-language search engine Google.cn and redirected Chinese mainland users to another portal in Hong Kong.

Google's earlier threats to pull out of China and its latest move to reroute traffic to Hong Kong were just "publicity stunts," said a netizen named Ding Wei on the Internet industrial network www.sootoo.com.

"Google's redirecting Google.cn to Google.com.hk is a compromised decision reflecting that the company wants to save its reputation in China," the netizen said.

Google said in Tuesday's statement it still intended to continue research and development and maintain a sales staff in the Chinese mainland.

Experts interviewed by Xinhua said they believed Google's latest move was mainly out of business and market concerns, adding that Baidu and other Internet companies doing business in China would benefit from Google's withdrawal.

"Google faces censorship in about 25 countries, but why does it only quit the Chinese mainland? Because it can not beat Baidu," said Dr. Wang Yu, a Nanjing University lecturer.

"Google does not give up its smart phone operating system Android or other partnerships with domestic Internet companies, because unlike Google.cn, they are all promising," said Wang who specializes in network information studies.