The Northern California internet giant Google is reportedly planning to leave China due to censorship issues. The anticipated move has stirred up controversy on both sides of the Atlantic.

Speculation has been swirling for weeks that Google will soon announce a decision to pull out of China, or at least shut down its Chinese search engine.

But Google has not yet formally unveiled any such plans.

It has been two months since Google said it would no longer agree to abide by Beijing's censorship rules even if that meant shutting its Google.cn site, and now some Chinese Internet users and state media are calling for the company to pull out.

The state-run media outlet, Xinhua, in a signed commentary, said Google had promised when it entered the Chinese market to filter its search engine for "harmful content" in accordance with the law.

The burst of angry Chinese comments suggested that, in spite of the widespread popularity of Google amongst educated Chinese, the government is steering state-run media and websites to lump the company together with other recent disputes with Washington that have stirred nationalist rancor in China.

Some academics have said China's ruling Communist Party is attempting to stifle debate about censorship and are calling the matter a commercial dispute.

Google's chief executive said earlier this month that an outcome is expected soon.