China’s official news agency, Xinhua, and mobile phone company China Mobile (0941.HK) have launched a second state-owned internet search engine in China, the South China Morning Post reported. The new site, panguso.com, went live at 3 p.m. on Tuesday. It offers search services in news, websites, pictures, videos, bulletin board services, music and commentaries. The first state-owned search engine, goso.cn, launched in December, is operated by the People’s Daily newspaper. Almost 80% of China’s 457 million internet users use search engines, but Xie Wen, an internet analyst and former Yahoo China president, said it was unlikely that the new website would attract much traffic. “The readership of government-backed websites will remain mostly officials, media employees and retired cadres, accounting for only 3-5% of all internet users.”
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