Betting on whether eBay will abandon China or not is a popular game in the technology salons of China. The company has had a rough go in the mainland, and is in bitter competition with Alibaba's Taobao auction site. Late last month rumors started swirling that eBay might finally give up on China, or at least scale back its operations. Among the possibilities discussed was that eBay might sell out to a Chinese partner and retain a stake in the resulting business. That's the approach taken by Yahoo, which essentially paid Alibaba to take its Chinese business off its hands, while retaining a significant minority stake in the company.

Would a similar stunt work for eBay? Maybe. Yahoo found out that giving a local partner control of your brand in China can be a risky situation when it was called to account in the US for Yahoo China's cooperation with local authorities. eBay is a very different business, but auctions and commerce come with their own risks, especially in pirate-friendly China. Everyone was reminded of the risks when eBay China was dragged into court recently and accused--not for the first time--of allowing trade in pirated books on its site.

Hi. Can I buy an Internet auction company here?

Speculation on the possibility of a sell-off of eBay China was stoked by the lack of a categorical denial from eBay Eachnet (Eachnet was the Chinese company that eBay bought to establish its business here). However, in the last couple of days, global CEO Meg Whitman has defended eBay's presence in China. Reuters reports:

"We're committed to the Chinese market for the long term," president and chief executive Meg Whitman told investors on a conference call following eBay's third-quarter financial report. "We think it holds great potential."

eBay recognizes that it faces tough competition from rivals that offer free auction listings such as Yahoo-backed Alibaba and others, she said.

"We believe we're actually maintaining share in what is becoming an even more competitive market," Whitman said. "There are many new entrants in the business, but we feel pretty good about where we are."

Well, as a statement it might be optimistic about eBay's China potential, but it's not exactly a denial that changes might be in the offing. After all, Yahoo handed off its operations here, but it'd tell you--correctly--that it is still deeply engaged with China. And in the conference call, Whitman declined to comment on the potential of a deeper relationship with Chinese partner Tom.com or another Chinese company.

Looks like the salons will be buzzing for a while.