Trump discusses China, 'political fairness' with Google CEO

[March 28, 2019]  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said he met with the chief executive of Alphabet Inc's Google on Wednesday and discussed "political fairness" and the company's business in China.

"He stated strongly that he is totally committed to the U.S. Military, not the Chinese Military," Trump said on Twitter of his meeting with Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

"Also discussed political fairness and various things that @Google can do for our Country. Meeting ended very well!," Trump said.

Google also issued a statement on the meeting.

"We were pleased to have productive conversations with the President about investing in the future of the American workforce, the growth of emerging technologies and our ongoing commitment to working with the U.S. government," a Google spokesperson said in the statement.

"We are not working with the Chinese military. We are working with the U.S. government, including the Department of Defense, in many areas including cybersecurity, recruiting and healthcare," the spokesperson said.

The top U.S. general, Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Senate committee hearing earlier this month that the Chinese military was benefiting from the work Google was doing in China.

The U.S. military said that Dunford met Pichai on Wednesday at the Pentagon at Google's request.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks on stage during a keynote address announcing Google's new cloud gaming service, Stadia, at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, California, U.S., March 19, 2019. REUTERS/Stephen Lam/File Photo

"General Dunford shared his concerns about U.S. tech firms working in China and the potential impact on the United States' ability to maintain a competitive military advantage due to intellectual property being indirectly shared with the Chinese military," Colonel Patrick Ryder, a spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said.
 

Pichai has said Google has invested in China for years and plans to continue to do so.

In a tweet last week, Trump accused social media platforms Facebook, Google's YouTube and Twitter of favoring his Democratic opponents over him and his fellow Republicans and said he would look into the issue.

(Reporting by Eric Beech, David Shepardson and Idrees Ali; editing by Mohammad Zargham and Phil Berlowitz & Simon Cameron-Moore)

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