Google employees demand more transparency in plan for search engine in China.

(Reuters)- Google's plan to launch a censored search engine in China calls for "more transparency, oversight and accountability," hundreds of company employees wrote in an internal petition obtained by Reuters on Thursday.

Google plans to block certain websites and search terms from the Chinese search engine in order to gain approval from the Chinese government to operate its mobile search tool in the country.

Company employees fear that by agreeing to the censorship demands, Google will validate bans on freedom of expression in the country and violate the clause in the company's code of conduct that states "don't be evil."

Following another petition from employees this year, Google announced that it will not renew a project to help the U.S. military develop artificial intelligence technology for drones.

The new petition states that the company's project in China made it clear that the ethical principles touted by Google during the previous debate on drones "are not sufficient."

Representatives from Google did not comment on the matter.

Three former employees involved in previous Google efforts in China told Reuters that the company's current leadership may assess that offering limited search results in China is better than offering no information at all.