Google appoints new chief to oversee tumultuous China region

Alphabet Inc.’s Google has appointed a new Greater China head, as the company tries to reset a checkered relationship with Beijing while tensions with Washington flare.

Stanley Chen will become managing director of Greater China sales, the company said yesterday, taking up a post Scott Beaumont vacated after he was appointed Google’s Asia-Pacific president in March. The incoming executive, who will be based in Shanghai, had been general manager of its Taiwan business for eight years.

Google takes in about 15% of its annual revenue from the Asia Pacific even though it pulled its search engine from the world’s No. 2 economy around 2010, citing censorship. Advertising from Chinese companies however remains an important business for the internet giant.

The company came under fire last year for an unsuccessful attempt to bring a censored version of its search engine back to China. Google has also figured prominently in the trade war as it contends with a ban on Huawei, one of its biggest advertisers and Android customers, and comes under scrutiny, for its work on artificial intelligence in the country. Google is also said to be reordering its supply chain to move some hardware production, out of China as tariffs on these goods increase.

The company declined to make Chen available for comment. Shelly Banjo, Bloomberg