Axios reports that the Chinese government is increasingly using its economic weight to reshape global behavior and strengthen its own authoritarianism. Corporations are turning over all their secrets and technology while remaining mum on their human rights abuses.
Axios says democratic governments are leaving companies to fend for themselves. [Yeah, well, duh, it’s Joe Biden and his comrades]
Global businesses and nonprofits that take a stand for democratic values can cause massive revenue losses in the Chinese market.
Critics often lambast companies that make concessions to Beijing as “caving” or “selling out.” But then they lose money.
Through state-fanned patriotic boycotts, website shutdowns, and other retaliatory measures, the Chinese government pressures international firms and other organizations to avoid statements or actions that cross the Chinese Communist Party’s red lines.
Issues like Hong Kong, Taiwan, slaves, and genocide aren’t worth losing money for these companies.
This is what our greedy companies do:
- Fashion companies Zara and Hugo Boss walked back statements distancing their operations from Xinjiang cotton.
- LinkedIn blocked the accounts of several foreign journalists on its China-based website.
- The Marriott hotel in Prague declined to host a November conference of activists and leaders from China’s Uyghur diaspora, citing “political neutrality.”
They won’t open their mouths to stand for human rights since CCP is just a “strict parent”:
Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio said, “I can’t be an expert in those kinds of things,” when asked in an interview with CNBC how human rights issues in China inform his decision to invest there. He referred to China as a “strict parent” in its approach to managing its population.
What a cop-out! He’s no expert and the CCP is just a “strict parent”.
IOC official Richard Pound said, “I simply do not know. Personally, I do not know,” when asked in an interview with German radio broadcaster Deutschlandfunk if he knew about the human rights violations occurring in Xinjiang.
He knows nothing.
The results of Beijing’s strategy increasingly go far beyond just censorship. The Chinese government has tightened its legal environment, forcing companies to hand over technology and data in order to continue operating there, threatening the security of users and the integrity of markets, Axios reports.
They’ve been doing that for years. It’s not new.
Some firms such as LinkedIn and Yahoo announced this year they were leaving the Chinese market due to the difficult regulatory environment.
Others have stayed, handing over key aspects of their business as they have done in no other market.
- Apple CEO Tim Cook said in November that Apple has a “responsibility” to do business wherever it can, including China, despite the government’s human rights abuses there. The company censors apps from its China app store. Apple also stores encryption keys at the Chinese-owned company that operates Apple’s data center in China, the New York Times reported in June.
Isn’t that nice? They’re responsible to the CCP.
- Amazon has also transferred cloud technology to local Chinese companies to comply with China’s regulations and remain in the market, Reuters reported this month.
That’s nice too [sarc.]. They like the CCP better than morality.
Biden Has Done Nothing Yet to Rein in the Strict Parent
The U.S. government has not yet established new mechanisms to support U.S. businesses facing CCP coercion, such as emergency aid to support them when facing revenue loss in China.
In October, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a draft bill that if passed would create an interagency task force to come up with recommendations to address China’s economic coercion.
The EU is considering a new set of anti-coercion trade instruments designed to blunt the force of Beijing’s economic retaliation.
Axios defines the bottom line: In a showdown between a powerful government and a single company, the government usually wins — unless an outside government steps in.
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