WASHINGTON - Yahoo Inc. Chief Executive Jerry Yang testified to lawmakers on Tuesday that the company has been "open and forthcoming" about its role in a Chinese government investigation that led in 2005 to a journalist's imprisonment.
"We have answered every question, provided every requested piece of information and worked with you in good faith," he said in prepared testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Lawmakers have accused the company of holding back information in its role regarding the arrest of Chinese journalist Shi Tao. The Chinese government accused Shi of leaking state secrets and sentenced him to 10 years in prison.
Yang, who became CEO this summer of the company he co-founded, also said Yahoo is committed to doing the right thing and protecting human rights globally.
"We are a company founded on openness, the exchange of information and user trust, and we believe deeply in free expression and privacy," he said.
Michael Callahan, the Internet company's general counsel, is expected to repeat a public apology he made last week regarding his failure to turn over new information to Congress in October 2006, months after he initially testified to two House subcommittees about Yahoo's role in the case.
The foreign affairs committee's chairman, California Democrat Tom Lantos, doesn't buy Yahoo's explanation of why it previously provided incomplete information to Congress.
"Yahoo claims that this is just one big misunderstanding. Let me be clear -- this was no misunderstanding," Lantos said in a statement prepared for the hearing.
"This was inexcusably negligent behavior at best, and deliberately deceptive behavior at worst," Lantos said.
