Google is plotting a return to China, following a five year absence after falling out with the communist nation over its censorship laws. According to The Information, Google is expected to make its comeback with the launch of a new version of its Play Store that’s “tailored” for a Chinese audience, later this year.

If Google does return the China, it would mark a stunning U-turn for the company after it all but abandoned the world’s most populous nation in 2010. Google left China because of concerns over surveillance, cyberattacks and censorship, saying it wanted to protect its users and uphold its values. China hasn’t really altered its stance on the Internet since then, which suggests Google has simply decided it can no longer afford to ignore the huge commercial opportunities provided by China’s enormous technology market.

Google’s row with China dates back to 2010, when the company accused Chinese state-sponsored hackers of stealing unspecified intellectual property from its internal systems. Google claimed the primary motive of that attack was to gain access to the Gmail accounts of unnamed human rights activists in China. As always with these kinds of reports, China denied any knowledge of the hacks.

In the wake of that spat, Google suddenly announced it would no longer censor its search results in China, as it had done before. And later in 2010, Google decided to shut down its Google.cn domain after the breakdown of talks with Chinese officials. Instead, visitors were redirected to the Google.com.hk domain based in Hong Kong, where uncensored results were provided.

In response, China announced said it would take away the company’s license to operate. That forced Google to stop rerouting its search traffic to Hong Kong, and instead simply ‘advise’ netizens to search on the Hong Kong domain instead.

Since then, an uneasy truce has been in place, but that could change if The Information‘s report is correct.

According to the article: “As early as this fall, the company hopes to get Chinese government approval to distribute a special China version of its Google Play mobile app store for Android smartphones in the country.”

“The moves will re-establish Google as an Internet services provider in mainland China that stores user data locally and complies with government censorship requirements.”

By creating an app store specific to China, Google would be able to gain more control over the Android market in that country. Android in China is largely unregulated, with smartphone makers free to modify devices and install the apps they please, unlike in other countries where they’re forced to include certain Google apps. A new Google app store would also help Google to compete with local app stores from companies like Tencent, Baidu and Xiaomi.

Even so, Google could well be criticized for capitulating to the Chinese government after its previous tough stance there.

The Information says Google is hoping to secure Beijing’s approval for its ‘tailored’ app store and that it should be up and running this fall.

Image credit: Josh Chin via Flickr.com