Technology firm Yahoo! has been criticised by one of its Chinese business partners after publically coming out in support of Google's decision to consider quitting the country.

The US firm revealed it will no longer censor search results through Google.cn and is considering pulling out of the country and ceasing its business operations following a wave of cyber attacks, believed to have originated in China. The company is now due to enter talks with the Chinese government over its future in the country.

Yahoo! decided to come out in support of Google saying: “We stand aligned that these kinds of attacks are deeply disturbing and strongly believe that the violation of user privacy is something that we as internet pioneers must all oppose.”

But the firm has now been criticised as “reckless” by the Alibaba Group, one of Yahoo!’s Chinese partners, in which it owns a 40 per cent stake.

The Alibaba Group told Bloomburg: “Alibaba Group has communicated to Yahoo! that Yahoo!’s statement that it is ‘aligned’ with the position Google took last week was reckless, given the lack of facts in evidence. Alibaba doesn’t share this view.”

According to a report in The Telegraph, Yahoo! has declined to comment further.