> Their absence from China didn't liberate the Chinese people and their reentry won't either
Google's reentry into China will definitely give the Chinese government leverage over them. It's opening the door for stuff like this to happen:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2007/nov/14/news.yaho...
> [Yahoo] claimed it had no choice other than to comply with a request from Beijing to share information about the online activities of the journalists. Yahoo handed their email records to the Chinese government.
> The journalists, Wang Xiaoning and Shi Tao, are serving 10-year jail sentences. Wang was accused of "incitement to subvert state power" after he emailed electronic journals advocating democratic reform and establishment of a multiparty system to replace the present authoritarian state. Shi was charged with passing on information that was designated a state secret