How will pulling out of China forestall any future attacks on Google you ask? First of all, Google may be many things, but stupid isn't one of them.
If in fact Google suspects the attacks were for the benefit of the Chinese government then you can count on Google believing that for a good reason. Thats not to say that Google does honestly believe that for a fact, but the tone of Googles response to the situation appears to be that is what they are implying.
And given the attacks were on Googles Chinese assets, if in fact the Chinese government was behind the attacks you can count on nothing more then a phantom investigation taking place by the Chinese authorities. That would clearly put Google in China operating in a less then secure environment where there would always be the omni present threat of having their resources attacked at any time with the knowledge that because the government is behind the attacks there is no real threat of government prosecution of the offender. That, in most respects is perhaps the most serious type of security risk imaginable.
Think about it; operating in a country where there is an entity with massive resources posing a constant security threat to your infrastructure and the perpetrators will never be seriously investigated, never mind actually prosecuted within its own boarders. It would be an absolute affront to any business operation.
Certainly Google can still be attacked even if its not in China, but it would at least eliminate the potential of being stuck in a country where the attacks are never able to be properly investigated because it is the countries government supporting the attacks.
Now agreed, if this was an environment which otherwise was without issue Google might have been more willing to hang in and see if the situation could be resolved, but this is not an environment which is otherwise without issue.
China is an uneasy environment to do business in from the get go for any western business because of ongoing human rights issues in China for starters. The potential for negative press due to operating in such an environment is always hanging over ones head when they do business with a country like China.
Secondly, the Chinese government are control freaks and have exercised that control from the start with their demand for filtering of searches. This is not seen as an acceptable business practice in the western world and only brings down more scrutiny generally on Googles head from an international perspective on Googles reputation for honesty and fairness.
Thirdly, from a financial point of view, as the article pointed out, its not like Google would be giving up the lions share of the market anyway. Trying to hang on to what little they have in China in the face of this kind of a security breach would look to many as if Googles greed was a far more significant component to their business model then security. Trying to hang on to every little bit of your market even in the face of egregious risks to your customers can only come across as greed.
The scenario as a whole bodes poorly for a company like Google that has promoted themselves as a company that "does no evil". Pulling out of China may be even more then the smart thing for Google to do, it may be the dumb thing to do anything else in the circumstance.
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