WASHINGTON (AFP) - – Google does not know if the Chinese authorities were behind a disruption in the company's services on Thursday, chief executive Eric Schmidt said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

Schmidt said that although the Chinese government can "arbitrarily decide" the level of service Google can provide in China, the Internet giant does not know if it was responsible for the disruption of services.

Google reported on Thursday that virtually all of its services in China were "partially" or "fully blocked" but clarified later that it had actually been a "relatively small blockage."

The disruption was the first since China agreed earlier this month to renew the company's license to operate in the country.

That decision came after months of tension between Google and Beijing over state censorship and cyberattacks that the company says originated in China, the world's largest online market with 420 million users.

Schmidt told the Journal that the cyberattacks late last year against Google were a "wake-up call to Google and other American companies."

The Google chief executive also told the newspaper that he was an advocate of entering the China market -- a move that was reportedly the subject of some controversy among the top management at the Mountain View, California, firm.

He said he believed it was better to engage with China even if Google had to operate with restrictions. That decision was reversed, he added, because of an accumulation of events. "Day-to-day stuff just drove us crazy," he said.

Schmidt said China is the only country that practices "active censorship" of the Internet, although other countries block certain websites.

The Google chief executive was also asked whether the company was living up to its unofficial motto of "Don't be evil."

He said the company has done "generally well" although it has made a few mistakes, China being a notable one.

He added that when Google entered China, the company said it would revisit its decision, "and we have revisited it," Schmidt said.