China: Google’s license is under review

China provided an update Wednesday on Google’s status there for the first time since the company renewed its license to operate a website on June 28. 

The license renewal fell amid threats from Chinese regulators that they would allow the site to go dark if the company continued to rerout traffic to an uncensored search site.

But little was revealed in China’s first statement on the situation. The Wall Street Journal reports that Wang Lijian, spokesman for China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said Google’s request is under review.

He added that Google had filed close to the deadline, delaying the review process. “As Google submitted the application in late June, it is impossible to finish the examination in such a short time,” he said.