Google hopes to retain a substantial business presence in China even if its standoff with Beijing over censorship forces it to close its flagship local search engine, local employees and industry experts say.

Speculation intensified on the 19 March that the US internet group was preparing to announce as early as Monday the closure of google.cn, making good on its threat to retreat from China unless the government allowed it uncensored search results.

The company runs google.cn, its China-registered website, in a joint venture with a domestic partner, as Chinese law bars -foreigners from holding controlling stakes in the internet content business. But most of Google's workforce in the country is employed by a separate company wholly owned by the US parent.