BEIJING—A Chinese government research institute hit out at Google Inc.’sGOOG +2.08% Android smartphone operating system, arguing that China is too reliant on the platform and accusing the search giant of using its dominance to discriminate against local companies.

Bloomberg News
Samsung is among the many smartphone makers whose devices are powered by Google’s Android.
The criticism highlights continuing tension between Google and the Chinese government three years after the Mountain View, Calif., company said it wouldn’t comply with Chinese Internet restrictions and pulled its servers out of mainland China.
It also highlights Android’s strong presence in China, where the operating system powers about four out of five mobile devices, including gadgets made by Chinese companies vying to take market share from Apple Inc.AAPL +2.64% and Samsung Electronics Co. 005930.SE +0.52%
The Chinese government is putting increasing emphasis on local smartphone manufacturers like Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Inc., which have gained a foothold in the global market for smartphones by supplying low-cost handsets abroad and to China’s massive local market.
“Chinese enterprises have generally used Android as a foundation to optimize and develop [products],” said the China Academy of Telecommunication Research, which is associated with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in a report.
The report notes, however, that while Android is an open-source platform—meaning anyone can use it free of charge—its core technology remains tightly controlled by Google. “The development of Chinese operating systems constantly faces commercial discrimination from Google,” the research institute said.
The report adds that Google has delayed sharing code in the most recent versions of Android with Chinese companies and through commercial agreements has restricted China’s smartphone makers.
Google declined to comment on the paper, which was released Friday and carried by local media on Tuesday.
A similar report released in April 2012 from the same research institute noted that there remained “gaps” between local companies like Baidu Inc.BIDU +1.23% and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and foreign companies in the mobile-operating-system market, but refrained from saying that Google’s behavior had been discriminatory.
Enlarge Image

The stronger language used in the most recent report could indicate that the research institute believes that Google had violated one of the conditions laid out by China’s Ministry of Commerce when it approved Google’s $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. in May. As part of the approval, the ministry said Google couldn’t use its Android operating system to discriminate against manufacturers.
Though it is unclear whether the government will take any actions in response to the report, China has in the past taken measures to block foreign Internet companies. In particular the government has used a set of filters collectively known as the Great Firewall to bar local access to a number of websites including Facebook FB -0.72%and Twitter.
In December, China issued what is known as a technical barrier to trade notification to the World Trade Organization that detailed a proposed law requiring handset makers ensure preloaded apps and operating-system updates are in accordance with Chinese laws before the phones are sold in China. The new law also refers to standards put forth by the Chinese government that, if passed, could force companies to help China’s government identify users and track their application use.
Google’s services in China have often been slow and unreliable since the company declared in 2010 that it would no longer censor Internet searches as required under local law and shifted its search operations to Hong Kong. Nonetheless, the company boasts an 82.6% share of the market for mobile operating systems, according to Beijing-based research firm Analysys International.
Enlarge Image

Bloomberg News
China is putting increasing emphasis on local smartphone makers. Above, pedestrians in Hong Kong.
Android doesn’t just dominate the Chinese market, however. Google’s operating system powered about 70% of smartphones world-wide at the end of the fourth quarter, according to GartnerInc. IT +1.67%
In September Google forced the delay of a planned release of an Acer Inc.2353.TW +0.37% smartphone that was set to run Aliyun, an operating system developed by Alibaba. Google said the operating system was a “non-compatible” version of Android, meaning that Alibaba allegedly created its operating system by taking Google’s Android software and making changes to it.
In its statement, Google said Acer, like other hardware makers that use Android to power devices, had “committed to building one Android platform and to not ship non-compatible Android devices.” Android is an open-source mobile operating system, but in order to include any Google services such as Web search or its popular Google Maps, the device maker must meet certain requirements set by Google.
Alibaba denied Google’s claims. “Aliyun OS is not a part of the Android ecosystem so of course Aliyun OS is not and does not have to be compatible with Android,” it said in a statement.