Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Cisco Systems recently underwent some trouble on the matter of their business cooperation with Chinese government. Scathing critics came out of US Congressional Human Rights Caucus. Human rights groups condemned those high-tech companies as shamelessly sacrificing human rights to the police state for the sake of profits. In order to crave in to the most fast growing market, and stay so long as possible, there is no alternative but play by China’s rule. As a consequent result, particularly the worst to Google for censoring its research results in China under the pressure from Chinese government, it caused severe damage to the companies’ domestic credit and followed sharp slopes in trading stocks.
Still, Google has some supporters out of both sympathy and justice. Among them, one draws PNTR that US government granted China in 2000 as comparison. He criticized the Congress by tolerating authoritarian regime itself, but now expecting so much from the companies. It was US government pave the way for China to join WTO, without which there can be no cooperation between US companies and China for today. That time the government argued that “doing business with China was an aggregate good for US, even without promises of political liberation in return, was better for the Chinese people than doing nothing at all.” While for present time Google tried to defend for itself likewise, there came scorn and ridicules.
The most innocent victims of government interventions from both sides appear clearly to be those businessman. Providing the huge market potential already, Chinese government has every reason to hold its position. Leave or stay? It’s a decision to make closely related to the companies’ own profits. Anyhow US Congress will never want to lose its prestige over the long lasting, complex problem of human rights with China. By taking actions to their businessman it ultimately had a way to prove its power to the world. Apparently the debate will turn into loss of confidence between US government and US companies. Otherwise for China, it need not pay further attention but sit back keeping neutral.
