According to the Financial Times’ Saturday report, the talks between Google and China – pertaining to China’s Internet censorship policy as well as cyber-security – have apparently reached a standoff; and there is now a “99.9 percent” likelihood of Google shuttering its Chinese search engine.

Citing an unnamed source aware of the proceedings, the Financial Times’ web report elaborated that Google had already worked out detailed plans for shutting its Chinese search engine – a decision which, though, will be taken ‘very soon,’ will become effectual after some time, once Google follows through with the plan in an orderly manner so as to protect local employees from retribution by government officials.

Google, which had threatened to pull out of China in January after it faced the contentious China-originated cyberattacks, was Friday cautioned by the Chinese authorities about the company’s alleged violation of the country’s laws.

In response to the reporters’ Friday queries about what action China will take against Google if Google. cn stopped filtering search results, Li Yizhong, China’s Minister of Industry and Information Technology, said: “If you don’t respect Chinese laws, you are unfriendly and irresponsible, and the consequences will be on you.”

Yizhong’s response came after a Wednesday statement by the Google CEO Eric Schmidt that he would soon announce soon the end result of the company’s talks with Chinese authorities on offering an uncensored search engine in China.