"It seems that Google has finally seen the wisdom of this approach. The next move for China is to ban Google completely, which is sadly much easier now that Baidu has had a few more years go gain traction and market share."
You're mistaken here. Baidu had the lion's share of the search market in China when Google decided to leave. Baidu even mocked Google's ineffectiveness with some viral videos.
My point is that if part of the goal is winning market share from Baidu the situation is worse now than before. I agree that a big part of Google's posturing about China was trying to find a graceful way to tap out w/o seeming weak.
Google's interest in China's political system is part of its marketing campaign, not actually designed to foster political dissent in China.
You're mistaken here. Baidu had the lion's share of the search market in China when Google decided to leave. Baidu even mocked Google's ineffectiveness with some viral videos.