BEIJING / SINGAPORE / SHENZHEN: China is planning to initiate an antitrust inquiry into  Alphabet Inc’s Google            , probing claims that it has leveraged its Android mobile operating system 's supremacy to stifle competition, two individuals familiar with the matter said. The case was proposed last year by telecommunications equipment giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and has been sent to the State Council's antitrust committee for consideration by the country's top market regulator, they added. One of the individuals said a decision on whether to proceed with a formal investigation could come as soon as October and could be influenced by the state of China's relationship with the United States.

The potential investigation follows a series of U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, citing national security threats, hobbled Chinese tech firms. This included putting Huawei on its trade blacklist, threatening Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp with similar actions, and ordering ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, to divest the short-form video app. It also comes as China embarks on a major revision of its antitrust laws with planned changes, including a drastic rise in maximum penalties and extended requirements for determining the dominance of a market by a corporation.

A possible investigation will also look into claims that the market position of Google may cause "serious harm" to Chinese businesses such as Huawei, as losing the support of the U.S. tech giant for Android-based operating systems will lead to loss of trust and revenue, a second individual said. The sources were not allowed to talk publicly about the matter and refused to name them. No immediate comment was given by Google, while Huawei declined to comment. The Top Market Regulator of China, the State Market Regulation Administration and the State Council did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

If the antitrust investigation continues, the first source said, Chinese regulators will look at examples set by their peers in Europe and India. "The individual said," China will also look into what other countries have done, including keeping inquiries with Google managers. The second source added that how fines are imposed based on the global sales of a business rather than local sales would be one learning point. In 2018, the European Union fined Google €4.3 billion ($5.1 billion) for anti-competitive practises, including requiring telecommunications manufacturers to pre-install Google apps on Android devices and prohibiting them from using Google's Android and search engine rivals.

The decision prompted Google to offer more options for European users over default search tools and to provide more leeway for handset makers to use competing systems.