Microsoft has kept a relatively low profile in China since Google announced its decision to potentially withdraw from the market over censorship issues and following an attack on its systems that it believes originated in China.
Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer previously said his company had no plans to pull out of China, indicating it was unlikely to follow Google's lead in challenging a Chinese system that forces Internet companies to self censor their sites on sensitive topics.
"Regardless of whether or not Google stays, we will aggressively promote our search and cloud computing (in China)," Zhang Yaqin, chairman of Microsoft's Asia-Pacific R&D Group, told Reuters on Friday, on the sidelines of the opening of the National People's Congress, China's parliament, in Beijing.
China was in consultation with Google to resolve their dispute, Minister Li Yizhong from China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said, also on the sidelines of the NPC.
A Google spokeswoman declined to confirm or deny that discussions were taking place.
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