WASHINGTON — They sat just two feet apart, the mother of a journalist confined to a Chinese prison and the wealthy head of the giant U.S. company that helped put him behind bars.
But before Yahoo Inc. Chief Executive Jerry Yang took his seat to testify on Capitol Hill Tuesday, he bowed deeply before the woman.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday, November 10, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 61 words Type of Material: Correction
Yahoo testimony: An article in Wednesday's Section A about executives testifying on Capitol Hill about Yahoo Inc.'s role in the arrest of a Chinese journalist did not give the first name of a member of Congress who urged Yahoo to settle the case to show that it cared about the families involved. The comment was made by Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.).
The hearing by the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Yahoo's conduct in China was a rare public shaming of the Internet leader, whose actions led to the imprisonment of journalist Shi Tao.
Committee Chairman Tom Lantos (D-Burlingame) and other lawmakers pilloried Yang and Michael Callahan, Yahoo's executive vice president and general counsel, for providing Chinese officials with Shi's identity from his e-mail address in 2004, then misleading lawmakers last year about what it knew about the case.
"While technologically and financially you are giants, morally you are pygmies," Lantos said, scolding Yahoo executives.
After Lantos suggested they ask for forgiveness, Yang, who emigrated from Taiwan as a child, turned and again bowed three times -- each lower than the last -- to Shi's mother, Gao Qinsheng, as the 61-year-old woman dabbed at her eyes with a tissue.
"I believe he really means that because we are Chinese," Gao said through an interpreter after the hearing. "In the minute that he showed his regret and apologized, I had tears in my eyes. I accept that."
Tuesday's dramatic 3 1/2-hour hearing showed the challenge of doing business in a country with a state-controlled media.
The controversy over Yahoo's testimony and its role in Chinese police investigations led the committee last month to approve the Global Online Freedom Act, which calls for fines of as much as $2 million for disclosing information that identifies a particular Internet user to officials from an "Internet Restricting Country" except for legitimate law enforcement purposes. The bill faces tough opposition from large Internet companies.
Yahoo, Google Inc., EBay Inc. and other major Web players have invested billions in China to capture a share of the country's exploding Internet population. But they have been largely overwhelmed by local competitors, such as Alibaba.com and Baidu.com, as well as by concessions they must make to local laws. Google, for example, has faced heavy criticism for proactively censoring Web search results to which it believes the government might object.
