American Companies Help Squelch Chinese Democracy
ByWhatever role America plays in the eventual and (I believe) inevitable downfall of Chinese Communism, there will be little need to stop and thank Microsoft and Yahoo for playing their part. Just this week Microsoft removed a Chinese blogger’s Web site from its service because he posted comments critical of the Chinese government. Similar actions taken by Yahoo a short time back led to the jailing of another Chinese democratic activist.
Top executives at Microsoft and Yahoo blithely state that they are merely following the laws that govern commerce (and, incidentally, the limited expression of free thought) in China. The fact that people are being jailed, persecuted, and censored for free expression apparently has no impact on them, since it has no impact on either company’s ability to make money there.
I understand the fact that international rules of commerce dictate that companies act within the laws of the countries they operate. And I am well aware that both Microsoft and Yahoo have been instrumental in spreading beneficial computer technology and information around the world. However, these facts only demonstrate the duplicity and callous behavior these companies exhibit when it comes to their dealings in China. At best, they are being used by the communists to help squelch free speech. At worst, they are partners in this anti-democracy enterprise.
Either way, attention should be paid to their actions, and a level of accountability should be called upon them.
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2 Comments
January 6th, 2006 at 8:02 pm
Rick,
I hear what you’re saying and agree that Microsoft and Yahoo’s actions are an obvious cave-in to the Chinese.
But how about we look at this a different way. First is what Microsoft and Yahoo did any different then what our own government has done in allowing Chinese atrocities to continue for the sake of getting benefits elsewhere.
We as a nation fought hard to get China into the World Trade Organization (WTO) despite their obvious attempt to keep free expression by their people to a minimum. The reason we did it, is because we hope that the benefit they will get from being in the WTO will slowly push them further toward a complete democracy and not allowing them in the WTO because of their persecutions would only hurt those efforts.
I believe it’s the same with Microsoft and Yahoo. Sure Yahoo and Microsoft could pack up and leave in the name of Democracy but what good would that do? It would instead punish the millions of Chinese who actually have access to the Internet to get news and other benefits they normally would not. Having Yahoo and Microsoft refuse would also not help because then the Chinese government would just shut down the ability to access those sites completely having the same affect as if the companies just left.
In trying to convert the last communist superpower, baby steps need to be taken, which means sacrificing some bloggers website to keep the world open for the millions of other Chinese, something that wasn’t possible years ago. Doing so will hopefully as we seen elsewhere slowly let the Chinese to little by little move closer and closer to 100% democracy.
Last month a local Chinese court ordered a Beijing clothing company to pay compensation to Burberry, Gucci, Prada and others for making fake renditions of their products. That is something you would have never seen several years ago. Today we’re seeing it and if we let the Chinese government have these small victories like we did with the blogger, they will continue to move toward full Democracy. The problem is not that the Chinese government doesn’t know full democracy and an open market is best, it’s just that they want to feel like it is being done on their terms.
January 6th, 2006 at 11:16 pm
As I said, I do believe that democracy will ultimately triumph in China. I’m just not digging the morally equivalent attitude I see coming from Microsoft in this matter.
This week it’s just one blogger that gets shut down or thrown in jail because of Microsoft’s complicity. Next week it’s a hundred. When does it become too many? And where is the line drawn between making a buck and acting like a good corporate citizen?
And bringing up the fact that our government has turned a blind eye toward atrocities doesn’t make either the government or Microsoft any less guilty of ignorance in dealing with China. Frankly, I think the whole policy needs an overhaul from top to bottom.