Being that Google only hold a third of the market in China would it really be a big step? Will Google even be able to operate there without censoring the results?

Being that Google only hold a third of the market in China would it really be a big step?

Steve Ballmer has distanced Microsoft from Google's row with China, playing down concerns about cyber-attacks and censorship.

"There are attacks every day. I don't think there was anything unusual, so I don't understand," said Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer at a meeting on modernising government services at the White House.

"We're attacked every day from all parts of the world and I think everybody else is too. We didn't see anything out of the ordinary."

The comments come after Google threatened to pull out of China, citing censorship and cyber-attacks on human rights activists' email accounts.

Google claimed more than 20 other large companies had been the target of cyber-attacks originating in China, but Microsoft claims it has no evidence that it was attacked.

When asked if Microsoft had any plan to pull its business out of China, Ballmer answered "No. I don't understand how that helps anything. I don't understand how that helps us and I don't understand how that helps China."

Microsoft has high hopes for its Bing search engine in China, which has only a small share of the market, but could benefit if Google pulls out.

Ballmer's comments run counter to broad political support for Google. The White House claims it's backing Google's decision to no longer support China's censoring of searches.

"No. I don't understand how that helps anything. I don't understand how that helps us and I don't understand how that helps China."