Google's tussle with the Chinese government over censorship rules has shined a spotlight on other large U.S. technology companies doing business in China, including Amazon.com. Ahead of a hearing on global internet freedom earlier this month, Sen. Dick Durbin asked the nation's biggest tech firms to detail their China business operations and explain their "future plans for protecting human rights, including freedom of expression and privacy, in China." Amazon's response to Durbin contains some interesting information about its physical facilities in China, but the ecommerce giant sidestepped any serious discussion of censorship issues.

Amazon, in a response letter dated Feb. 18 (pdf, 2 pages), detailed its physical operations in China. The company said its Joyo Amazon website "provides COD delivery to hundreds of cities throughout China, and same-day delivery to customers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou." Amazon said it has four fulfillment centers, or warehouses, in China, totaling more 75,000 square meters. The biggest warehouse, in Beijing, is 40,000 square meters. The other fulfillment centers are in Suzhou, in the southeast; Guangzhou, near Hong Kong; and Chengdu, in the southwest.

But Amazon was not as revealing when it came to privacy and censorship issues in China:

Amazon has long been committed to protecting the privacy of customers. We know that customers care how information about them is used and shared, and we appreciate their trust that we will do so carefully and sensibly.

The letter goes on:

We have supported important privacy legislation, such as Senator Feingold's bill for a Library, Bookseller, and Personal Records Privacy Act. We are also committed to free expression, and we are long-time supporters of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression. In addition, Amazon has long been a leading proponent of maintaining the fundamental openness of the Internet and is a strong supporter of net neutrality.

Durbin, in his letter, noted the Global Network Initiative, which he described as as a "a voluntary code of conduct" for web companies requiring them "to take reasonable measures to protect human rights." But Amazon said the initiative "seems largely inapplicable" to its business.

It will be interesting to see if Google's ongoing dispute in China — the search giant is reportedly poised to shut down its Chinese-language website — will make any more waves for Amazon. Ahead of the Senate hearing led by Durbin, the New York Times highlighted some striking omissions on Amazon's China website:

A query for Zhao Ziyang — the former Communist Party leader who was stripped of power for supporting the 1989 democracy demonstration in Tiananmen Square — returns no matches. The Dalai Lama? A list of books that portray him as a dangerous “splittist” or that refer to the Chinese government’s hand-picked spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, who goes by the same title. A search of the words “censorship” and “China” comes back with “censorship” crossed out and three Sino-themed suggestions, including a book called “When China Rules the World.”

Amazon entered the China market in a big way in 2004, when it purchased Joyo.com for a reported $75 million in cash and stock

Follow my updates on Twitter.