Users of Google in China will have to first visit a link that takes them to the Hong Kong site. The shift comes as a compromise to the Chinese Government, which endangered the chances for Google to get a license in China.

In a proposal to preserve its presence in mainland China, Google Inc. is altering that how Internet users there access its search engine after the Chinese Government raised questions over the means which redirected them to an uncensored site in Hong Kong.

Google said that China had named the strategy as intolerable and had threatened to cancel its license. As a compromising act, Google said that it would discontinue mechanically redirecting users, in its place requiring them to click on a link that would take them to the Hong Kong site.

The supplementary step is crafted in such a way, so as to help Google renew its license for offering online content in China.

The license, which expires on Wednesday, extends all the way through 2012, however, has to be renewed every year. Google hopes a verdict within weeks, a person familiar with the circumstances said.

Wang Lijian, a Spokesperson for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said that the Chinese Government encourages foreign businesses to operate in China as per the law and that the nation strictly follows the rules in regards to law, too.