Their play wasn't "we're pulling out." It was "we're not censoring anymore."
As far as I know, they're still not censoring anymore. Seems to me like a win for all involved.
The thing I don't understand is why going from "autoredirect" to "click to redirect" was the crux for renewal. It feels strange that that was the key deciding factor for the Government.
Google's domain renewal, from now until the foreseeable future, will be a difficult time for Google/China relations - the government will escalate their demands every year. It will be interesting to see what the government makes them do next year to keep the domain.
It's part of their negotiating process, that government is very used to being threatened like this and certainly knows how to return in kind. Politics in China can be incredibly subtle (and deadly).