Google's announcement on Tuesday that it is rethinking its business position in China over cyberattacks and censorship issues was met with conflicting reactions in the world's biggest internet nation.

One of China's top censors, stood behind the country's policy on monitoring the internet, effectively ignoring Google's threat.

According to the Financial Times, Wang Chen, head of the State Council Information Office and deputy head of the the Communist Party's propaganda department, said that internet media “must live up to their responsibility of maintaining internet security,” including censoring content.

“We must do our best to intensify self-discipline among internet media to guarantee internet security,” the paper quoted him as saying.

“Self-discipline,” the paper said, is how the Chinese government refers to “self-censorhip.”

However, an editorial in the state-run Global Times published on Thursday points out that it would not benefit either China or Google if the internet pulls out of the Chinese market.

“Should the world's most populous nation fail to provide a foothold to the world's top search engine, it would imply a setback to China and serious loss to China's Net culture,” the paper said.

The paper, run by the Communist Party's mouthpiece, People's Daily, went on to say that people had a right to a free flow of information.

“The information highway demands not only safe driving but also free flow of traffic. And, in the interest of the majority's right to know, free flow of information should take precedence in a civil society.”

Censorship, it said, can be justified in a “transitional” society like China because of the risks that disorderly search results pose to “vulnerable netizens and social stability.”

“But the government must face up to the challenge of where and how to put the checkpoints on the highway.”

The editorial also pointed out that if Google pulled out of the Chinese market, it would be “an incalculable loss to its long term commitment to innovation.”