THE USA, INDIA, EUROPE …
AND THE HAND OF CHINA
[The Telegraph, U.K.]
The People's
Daily, China
Treat Google Like
a Chinese Firm Fleeing the U.S.
Is Google, and by extension the West,
caught up in hypocrisy by preaching to China about Internet censorship? In this article from China's state-controlled People's
Daily, Han Dongping argues that all governments control information - and developed ones like America best of all. Han Dongping is a professor of history and political science at Warren
Wilson College in North Carolina.
By Han Dongping*
January 20, 2010
People's Republic of China - The People's
Daily - Original Article (English)
Google's
decision - or threat to leave China - has caused a huge global uproar and made
huge headlines. President Obama has been quoted as saying that the U.S. would
take up Google's complaints and its decision to leave China and Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton has demanded answers. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called
on American high tech firms to deal in concert with China. The U.S. government,
upholder of the free market economy, no longer hides its "visible
hand." [a reference to the "invisible hand" of
the market].
For thirty years, the Chinese
government has been learning about how to introduce free market mechanisms into
society. It believes it has succeeded and has asked other nations to recognize
its status as a free market economy. Some countries have recognized China as a
free market and others have not. So in order to demonstrate that China is a
practicing free market, China's government should allow Google the freedom to
leave, just as it allowed it the freedom to come.
When I took my first class on
international relations, I was shocked to hear my professor tell us of how our
world is actually in a state of anarchy: The powerful do whatever they please
and the weak must put up with whatever they must to survive. Now I'm thankful to
him, as he taught me a real lesson about the world. In our "realist world,"
the bottom line is that powerful nations get away with a lot, and the weak have
to put up with a lot.
That's the reality, but as an idealist I always hope for a better world where
there are no bullies, no war, and where innocent people aren't killed so others can take something from them. Realists might call my dream of a
better world utopian, but I have a strong conviction that utopian ideas are important for humanity. If enough people grow tired of how things are, perhaps
the world wouldn't be such a "jungle." Perhaps peace
and the equality of nations will finally reign.
At a conference in the United
States many years ago, I gave a speech to a Chinese audience about the free
market. Professors and experts there were shocked to hear me say that all
modern economies are state-sponsored, state-organized and state-regulated. Never
has there been an exception. Nations in the first world are there because governments
have always backed their corporations. They've been willing to go to war to
open markets for tthem and deploy troops abroad to defend theit interests. They've instigated coups and rebellions to defend these
economic interests and still do today.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
But despite all of these quite
visible state activities in the economic life of first world nations, economic
experts and professors there preach to developing countries about the benefits
of a free market. They argue that the first world is in that position because it
practices such an economy. Nothing could be further from the truth. If countries
in the third world continue to do what they're told, they'll always be in the third
world. They should instead do what the developed world is doing - not what they
say they're doing.
Google complains that China's
government wants it to filter its search results. Its complaints have had the
effect of singling out China as a government that interferes with free access
to information. The truth of the matter is that every state regulates the
information people can access. Only a few powerful states are capable of controlling
the flow of information widely and effectively. For example, four news agencies
from three countries, the U.S., Britain and France, control 90 percent of international
news. Some countries can't get their side of the story out. In regard to the poor
nation of Zimbabwe's land reform program,
for example, the government there couldn't get word out about its side of the story.
All the world ever heard about was how bad and brutal the reform program is.
Some government can skillfully control information so that no trace is left, while
others can only perform so well.
The truth is that every
person and state is biased. More importantly, they are sometimes unaware of their
biases.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
The state is in the business
of controlling information. In his campaign for the presidency, Jimmy Carter
once said that he would never lie to the American people. But he lied right
there. No American president or president of any powerful nation can tell the
people everything. If he did, he wouldn't be president. The governments of many
countries are in the business of controlling information and lying to their
people, occasionally if not all the time. It's up to individual citizens to
figure out what's true and what isn't.
SEE ALSO ON THIS:
Le Figaro, France:
Google Affair Harms
Reputation of China
The Times, U.K.:
China Returns Fire Against
America in 'Google-War'
The Times, U.K.:
Hillary Guards Net Freedom; Attacks
China's 'Berlin Wall'
Taipei Times, Taiwan:
China vs. Google - Why is
Taiwan Making Enemies?
People's Daily, China:
China Urges U.S. to Stop
Accusations
China Daily, China:
Life Without
Google? China Will Be Fine
ABC News, Australia:
Australia, U.S. On Collision
Course Over Net Censorship
People's Daily, China:
Google's Attempted 'Threat to Chinese Sovereignty'
Global Times, China:
Google-China Split Would
Be a Loss for 'Both Sides'
China Daily, China:
Google
Grabs More Eyeballs in China
China Daily, China:
Google
No Exception' to the Law
Frankfurter Allgemeine, Germany:
Google Was Wise to Enter China
The Economist, U.K.:
Google and
China - Flowers for a Funeral
Again, because it claims to oversee
a free-market economy, the Chinese government should allow Google the freedom
to leave. Even though I wish people could have unfiltered access to
information, it will never happen, if for no other reason than our inability to
process infinite amounts of information. There is so much, and our time and
energy is so limited, that one can only care about certain things and ignore
others. That's where our biases come into play.
Not only should China allow
Google the freedom to leave, it should treat it just as a Chinese counterpart would
be treated in the U.S. So before it leaves, China should freeze all of Google's
assets and make sure it clears its local liabilities, settles fairly with its Chinese
employees, settles all lawsuits with Chinese writers in regard to intellectual
property rights and so on, before it's permitted to leave for good.
*Dongping Han is Professor of History and Political
Science at Warren Wilson College, North Carolina
[Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US January 24, 12:20pm]
