Axios reportsย 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 oftenย lambastย 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 governmentย pressuresย 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 companiesย Zaraย andย Hugo Bossย walked back statements distancing their operations fromย Xinjiang cotton.
- LinkedInย blockedย the accounts of several foreign journalists on its China-based website.
- The Marriott hotel in Pragueย declinedย 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 Dalioย 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.ย 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 Poundย 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 strategyย 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 asย LinkedInย andย Yahooย announced this year they were leaving the Chinese market due to the difficult regulatory environment.
Others have stayed,ย handing over key aspects of their business as they have done in no other market.
- Apple CEO Tim Cookย saidย 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 Timesย reportedย 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, Reutersย reportedย 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 lawmakersย introducedย 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 isย consideringย 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 powerfulย government and a single company, the government usually wins โ unless an outside government steps in.
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