Yahoo! slammed by China partner for Google support

"Alibaba Group has communicated to Yahoo! that Yahoo's statement that it is 'aligned' with the position Google took last week was reckless given the lack of facts in evidence," the firm's spokesman John Spelich told AFP in an email. "Alibaba doesn't share this view."

Google announced on Tuesday that it would no longer censor search engine results in China and possibly leave the world's largest online market, complaining about cyber attacks and censorship by the communist regime.

China-based cyber spies struck the Internet giant and reportedly more than 30 other firms in an apparent bid for computer source codes, intellectual property, and information about human rights activists around the world.

A spokeswoman for Yahoo!, which owns 39 per cent of Alibaba, on Wednesday welcomed Google's decision.

"Yahoo! is committed to protecting human rights and takes our users' privacy and security very seriously," the spokeswoman said. "We condemn any attempts to infiltrate company networks to obtain user information.

"We stand aligned with Google that these kinds of attacks are deeply disturbing and strongly believe that the violation of user privacy is something that we as Internet pioneers must all oppose," she added.