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I have a sizable project with cloud SQL and 150+ cloud functions running on GCP, fully functional in several SEA countries.

Until recently, when we plan to open up market for China, we found GCP is banned in China.

We are not considering migration to other platform at the moment due to the massive work involved.

Is there any workaround that we could use like routing the requests from China to our own server and relay to GCP, or any other thoughts?

I'm aware of similar question being asked here but there was no answer given back then, do we have answer to this in 2022? Firebase migration for China

Kagawa
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Is there any workaround that we could use like routing the requests from China to our own server and relay to GCP, or any other thoughts?

If your goal is to prevent legal issues in China, do not try to bypass their regulations, firewalls, etc. Technically, you would need to set up a VPN from a data center in China to your home office. You cannot use an endpoint in Google Cloud, AWS, etc. You will probably be restricted to only transfer traffic related to your business from your US office to your office in China. Do not forward traffic to businesses that are restricted by the government. That includes Google Cloud.

The best answer depends on who you are meaning are you an individual, small business, or a large company, and what type of business you conduct. Details such as merchant processing, etc make a difference.

China has laws regarding Internet access and a firewall to enforce them.

You have two options:

a) use a cloud service in China such as Alibaba. That is my recommendation. Do everything in China as a separate business that does not need Internet access outside China.

b) apply for a license from the government. That is fairly easy but takes time. There are multiple licensing tiers. If you process payments or financial transactions, the process is very difficult.

Consider retaining an agent in China to assist you with government regulations in China. Only a Chinese agent/business can apply for you. Unless you are a citizen, you cannot personally apply for yourself or your company.

John Hanley
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  • thanks for your professional advice. We have no intention to bypass any legal issues in China, just wanted to avoid re-work whatever is already proven working on GCP. Looks like there's no quick and easy way for GCP to support China, but to redo all again using chinese cloud provider like Alibaba. Not the answer we hoping for, but that's the way it is I guess. Thanks again! – Kagawa Jun 20 '22 at 01:52
  • @Kagawa - I am an Alibaba Cloud MVP for both security and networking. I took the government training for licenses, etc. I recommend Alibaba Cloud in your case. They can either help you with licenses or recommend someone in China. Their cloud is very good and very similar to AWS. – John Hanley Jun 20 '22 at 01:58