Microsoft CEO in China leaves for Baidu

Former Microsoft Vice President in Asia, Zhang Yaqin, has switched to Chinese competitor Baidu. The career switch is remarkable right now, as the software giant is currently under fire in China for alleged monopoly practices.

Yaqin was responsible for Microsoft’s strategy in China, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. In addition, he was involved in the development of new products of the software giant. He will take office as president of Baidu, the largest Chinese search engine, on Wednesday. Yaqin thus works directly for the competitor, because Microsoft also has a search engine with Bing.

Microsoft declined to comment Monday on the move of one of its top executives to The Wall Street Journal, although the career switch is remarkable. China accuses Microsoft of monopoly practices, because the American company would deliberately try to bundle Office with Windows, which is not allowed.

China has long been opposed to Western technology in favor of domestic products. In May, the government banned the use of Windows 8 on new government computers for ‘security reasons’. This opened the door for a ‘true’ Chinese alternative operating system, which is expected to be released in October.