"Therefore, those willing to focus on developing information search services in the future will have the potential to take Google's share," he said.

And in English or other foreign language search fields, Baidu was just not competitive. So for Chinese companies doing overseas business, Google was still a better choice for advertising, Leung said.

Experts have other worries over the mainland search engine market without Google.

Bu Ziqin, search engine analyst with China e-Business Research Center, said Google's balancing and pioneering impact on the Chinese Internet market would be weakened, or even lost.

Hu Bo, who also studies e-business, said that as the only big shot in a market without Google, Baidu would have a decisive influence in setting new rules.

"It will consider the company's benefits as top priority when making rules, if it has no outside restrictions, which would be devastating to the whole industry," Hu said, referring to the "Baidu Bidding Rank", the old pay per click program that was criticized both by Internet users and industry experts for selling organic search results to advertisers.

Jin Jianbin said search engine companies were more than a business.

"They are social fundamental infrastructure, just like railways and expressways, so they should bear more social responsibility," he said.

Hu Bo suggested the government should make standards for the industry, for example, setting rules on advertising.

"Actually, the government has much more to do in monitoring the search engine market after Google's exit," Hu said.

The government would also have to ensure Baidu would not monopolize the market, he said.

Leung Mantao said Google's exit signaled no changes in the investment environment of the Chinese mainland, but the Chinese government should make laws and regulations clearer.

"In this way, it's easy for companies, both international and domestic, to follow them," Leung said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 26, 2010)