The claims that companies like Yahoo!, Microsoft and Google are making are absolutely abhorrent. Those companies should actually be making an effort to comply with international human rights standards rather than caving to the Chinese government at the slightest "law". I understand that internet companies are a little nebulous and illusory to be making huge, obvious stances for human rights, but they can do better than they have been doing. Their reaction is very typical of corporate America: just blame someone else and you won't have to actually do anything to remedy the situation. This reaction frustrates me because I am more ideologically and honor driven than economicly driven; I could never be the CEO of a multi-national corporation. Also, I know that some aspects of human rights complicate the market economic system, but some things are more important than profit. Like freedom of expression. Sure, some information is better than none, but freedom of information is better than partial information.
Foreign companies should comply with local laws. That being said, the Chinese Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and also states that "information cannot be disseminated which is against the principles of the Constitution." But the Chinese government pushes the companies to censor themselves. How much does the Chinese Constitution even mean, since the government is contradicting itself? By the government contradicting itself in this manner, it is impossible for the companies to know which "laws" to follow. Therefore, the companies should follow thier own codes of conduct (or even the laws of their home countries), which doesn't seem to be the case. Basically, the companies will do whatever they think will cause the least outcry, or whatever they think they can get away with.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Tiananmen Movement Video
The Chinese government feared a worker's rebellion more than they feared a student movement, basically because the party had come to power decades earlier because of a worker's movement. Once everyday citizens and workers became involved in the Tiananmen Square events, the government began to fear for their own power and cracked down on the protesters. The Tiananmen Square events forced the Chinese government to address (or appear to address) some of the issues important to the protesters. In order to do this, the government had to offer either economic reform or political reform. They would never reform politically so the only real option was economic reform: free-market capitalism.
This refom led to a huge rift opening between the wealthy and the workers. There are now two Chinas: the metropolitan, modern cities and the underdeveloped rural areas. The modern cities have benefitted from the economic reforms while the rural farming areas- which cover a majority of China- have slipped farther away from modernity. People from the rural areas move to the cities to work for the factories and get paid (if they get paid) the most minimal wages possible and then are forced to leave the cities before they can even benifit form the modernity of the cities. All of this migrant worker population is sinking farther and farther away from the wealth, prosperity, and growth that the factory owners and other wealthy people are experiencing. This split is causing increasing social unrest that the government doesn't know how to handle. This problem runs deeper than the government cares to acknowledge and this social unrest can only get worse before any solution will be attempted.
This refom led to a huge rift opening between the wealthy and the workers. There are now two Chinas: the metropolitan, modern cities and the underdeveloped rural areas. The modern cities have benefitted from the economic reforms while the rural farming areas- which cover a majority of China- have slipped farther away from modernity. People from the rural areas move to the cities to work for the factories and get paid (if they get paid) the most minimal wages possible and then are forced to leave the cities before they can even benifit form the modernity of the cities. All of this migrant worker population is sinking farther and farther away from the wealth, prosperity, and growth that the factory owners and other wealthy people are experiencing. This split is causing increasing social unrest that the government doesn't know how to handle. This problem runs deeper than the government cares to acknowledge and this social unrest can only get worse before any solution will be attempted.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Activist Websites
When I looked at the www.freechina.net, I was intrigued to see that they had a whole news section for the US Congress article links that pertained to China. There was also a section for UN news links, but that made more sense to me because the UN is an international body. The US Congress is not. But the US Congress is important to Chinese government because there is a direct reactionary relation between US and Chinese policies and actions. All of the news stories from the section from China were about activists who had been imprisioned, why they were imprisioned, and how they were treated when they were imprisioned. No stories like these would have been even hinted at on the documentary we watched in class. These stories show how repressive and authoritarian the Chinese government really is; the face of the government they really don't want people to see. Some of the other stories are about different political events, but most are examples and reactions to how repressive the Chinese government really is. These stories are not really very well sourced, they seem more like word-of-mouth horror stories, they could be exaggerated to fuel the anti-authoritarian-government movement. But they probably have some basis in fact, the Chinese government doesn't have the best track record on human rights.
* My post was a bit later than intended because the internet in my apartment has been being finicky all week, tonight was no exception. Sorry if this messed up your reading schedule.
* My post was a bit later than intended because the internet in my apartment has been being finicky all week, tonight was no exception. Sorry if this messed up your reading schedule.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Pei- China Is Paying the Price of Rising Social Unrest
China is facing increased social unrest. Social tensions are rising because China is trying to become competitive (or more competitive) in the global market, which is not a simple task. As the government tries to change policies, those policies effect different groups of people, and those people protest the policies. But the government in Beijing is unwilling to address all those problems, which has led to an "unresponsive authoritarian political system with few pressure valves." There is a lot of corruption, which is not a new problem for the Chinese government, for example, when Mao first instituted communist reforms to the Chinese economy, the surplus products of labor were not divided equally because they were distributed according to who contributed more originally, meaning that more wealthy peasants still came out ahead of the less well off peasants.
The economy has also always been a volatile factor that the Chinese government has fought to control. The first communist economic controls instituted in the 1950s led to major famines from 1959-1962 (Guthrie, pg 34). More recently, the extremely fast economic growth rate that China has had for the past couple decades is causing other social strains because the problems that come from that level of growth are being ignored: "environmental degradation, a collapsing public health system and neglect for the poor," to name a few. These problems that stem from economic growth are the root of most of the social unrest that China is feeling. In order for the social unrest to be lessened, the government needs to be willing to compromise on some economic aspects, a course of action that an authoritarian government is not inclined to take.
The economy has also always been a volatile factor that the Chinese government has fought to control. The first communist economic controls instituted in the 1950s led to major famines from 1959-1962 (Guthrie, pg 34). More recently, the extremely fast economic growth rate that China has had for the past couple decades is causing other social strains because the problems that come from that level of growth are being ignored: "environmental degradation, a collapsing public health system and neglect for the poor," to name a few. These problems that stem from economic growth are the root of most of the social unrest that China is feeling. In order for the social unrest to be lessened, the government needs to be willing to compromise on some economic aspects, a course of action that an authoritarian government is not inclined to take.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Klare- Revving Up the China Threat & Zhang- Discourses of Security in China
According to Klare, the "China Threat" is directly related to oil consumption and the competition for more reserves. There are other factors, like China's modernization of their military, but China's increasing oil consumption is the main reason China is making security strategists in Washington uncomfortable. He also blames "conservative strategists" who seek to keep the US as the supreme global military power, a sort of Cold War type mentality that Zhang also mentions.
Zhang states that "China is a rising power", " the Chinese state today has a profound sense of insecurity", and "China is still percieved as a major problematic for regional and global security" as reasons why there is a perceived "China threat". The fact that China is a rising power threatens the Unite States' sense of security because Chinese capabilities might surpass the US's capabilities in the near future if their expansion trends continue. Zhang also states that "China has recently experienced a fundamental transformation from an isolated revolutionary power to an increasingly globalized state" which makes its actions new to the global stage. He also explains that any political move America makes that effects China, whether obviously or subtly, forces China to shift their own policy to react to the move the US made. This then causes China to seem like their resoning is faulty or less formed than it should be. But most of these problems would be solved if the US decided to be less obviously aggressive or "hawk"ish in their foreign affairs.
Zhang states that "China is a rising power", " the Chinese state today has a profound sense of insecurity", and "China is still percieved as a major problematic for regional and global security" as reasons why there is a perceived "China threat". The fact that China is a rising power threatens the Unite States' sense of security because Chinese capabilities might surpass the US's capabilities in the near future if their expansion trends continue. Zhang also states that "China has recently experienced a fundamental transformation from an isolated revolutionary power to an increasingly globalized state" which makes its actions new to the global stage. He also explains that any political move America makes that effects China, whether obviously or subtly, forces China to shift their own policy to react to the move the US made. This then causes China to seem like their resoning is faulty or less formed than it should be. But most of these problems would be solved if the US decided to be less obviously aggressive or "hawk"ish in their foreign affairs.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Cha- Countdown to Beijing & Beeson- the Weight of History
The two main themes from Cha's excerpt are the fact that the Olympics has always been a political event and the Beijing Olympics are no different and that China has been trying to change its image and policies in light of the scrutiny the Olympic Games brings. These two themes overlap- the international scrutiny that the Olympics brings only illuminates the political issues that China has.
China wants the Beijing games to show how much ecomonic and political progress they have made in the past century. China wants the Beijing Olympics the show that China is no longer the "sick man" of Asia and is now a modern nation. But China might not be as modernized as it wants to be. Cha explains how China has built a new airport, torn down "hutong" neighborhoods, banned one million cars from the city, and planted trees to absorb carbon dioxide in an attempt to show modernization and improve itself for the Games. But some of these "fixes" seem to be short term, rather than long term fixes that would make China truly modern.
Cha states that "Beijing must find a way to join its controlled and closed political system with the classical liberal ideas of individualism, open competition, and respect for human dignity embodied in the Olympics." This shows how China's political issues and ideas are coming under scrutiny because of the Olympic Games and that China must find a way to improve their politics. Cha states that China has cooperated with North Korea and Iran over climate issues because it helps China's interests and not because of Olympic ideals. He also thinks that "movement on trade, currency reform, and product safety would reflect Beijing's interests in avoiding trade wars" rather than shifting towards more "Olympic" ideals. Cha also describes how China is under pressure to change some of their human rights issues and their foreign policy. China has codified the state's constitutional responsibility to safeguard and respect human rights, which is an embracing of Olympic ideals. Also, China had been under scrutiny because it sells arms to and buys oil from Sudan while ignoring the ongoing genocide in Darfur, but it has recently begun cooperating with the UN instead of continuining its previous trade practices. these small gains show how China is willing to change policy in order to be more representative of the Olympics.
Cha also mentions how the 1988 Games in Seoul and the 1964 Games in Tokyo were a catalyst for change in both Korea and Japan. The 1988 Games in Seoul showcased South Korea's rapid economic growth and prosperity and the 1964 Games in Tokyo shifted Japan away from a wartime mentality. Cha thinks that the 2008 Beijing Games have the potential to do similar things for China. Of course, China wants the 2008 Games to show how prosperous and economically sound they are and to transition China into an era of more positive international cooperation. Cha states that the 2008 Beijing Olympics is the third time since 1896 that the Summer Olympics were held in Asia. Because of that statistic, the Beijing Games hold even more significance for China's international relations and will really become a way for China to prove that they are modernized and capable of being an important part of world politics.
Beeson mentions several times how competitive China and Japan are. This competitiveness shows how much pressure Beijing is under because of the Olympic Games, especially because Japan hosted the Games in 1964 when China was a communist state that wouldn't have been able to host the Olympics themselves. Much of the preparations that China is taking now are a reaction to the competition that exsists between China and Japan.
China wants the Beijing games to show how much ecomonic and political progress they have made in the past century. China wants the Beijing Olympics the show that China is no longer the "sick man" of Asia and is now a modern nation. But China might not be as modernized as it wants to be. Cha explains how China has built a new airport, torn down "hutong" neighborhoods, banned one million cars from the city, and planted trees to absorb carbon dioxide in an attempt to show modernization and improve itself for the Games. But some of these "fixes" seem to be short term, rather than long term fixes that would make China truly modern.
Cha states that "Beijing must find a way to join its controlled and closed political system with the classical liberal ideas of individualism, open competition, and respect for human dignity embodied in the Olympics." This shows how China's political issues and ideas are coming under scrutiny because of the Olympic Games and that China must find a way to improve their politics. Cha states that China has cooperated with North Korea and Iran over climate issues because it helps China's interests and not because of Olympic ideals. He also thinks that "movement on trade, currency reform, and product safety would reflect Beijing's interests in avoiding trade wars" rather than shifting towards more "Olympic" ideals. Cha also describes how China is under pressure to change some of their human rights issues and their foreign policy. China has codified the state's constitutional responsibility to safeguard and respect human rights, which is an embracing of Olympic ideals. Also, China had been under scrutiny because it sells arms to and buys oil from Sudan while ignoring the ongoing genocide in Darfur, but it has recently begun cooperating with the UN instead of continuining its previous trade practices. these small gains show how China is willing to change policy in order to be more representative of the Olympics.
Cha also mentions how the 1988 Games in Seoul and the 1964 Games in Tokyo were a catalyst for change in both Korea and Japan. The 1988 Games in Seoul showcased South Korea's rapid economic growth and prosperity and the 1964 Games in Tokyo shifted Japan away from a wartime mentality. Cha thinks that the 2008 Beijing Games have the potential to do similar things for China. Of course, China wants the 2008 Games to show how prosperous and economically sound they are and to transition China into an era of more positive international cooperation. Cha states that the 2008 Beijing Olympics is the third time since 1896 that the Summer Olympics were held in Asia. Because of that statistic, the Beijing Games hold even more significance for China's international relations and will really become a way for China to prove that they are modernized and capable of being an important part of world politics.
Beeson mentions several times how competitive China and Japan are. This competitiveness shows how much pressure Beijing is under because of the Olympic Games, especially because Japan hosted the Games in 1964 when China was a communist state that wouldn't have been able to host the Olympics themselves. Much of the preparations that China is taking now are a reaction to the competition that exsists between China and Japan.
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