The Chinese Communist Party feels the "Domino effect" from Google's pullout:
Go Daddy stops playing with Chinese companies
I have been deliberately reticent about Google's announcement of its pullout from China until a more definitive picture emerges. Now, after Google's redirection of its web traffic from China to its Hong Kong search site and the Chinese firewall blockage of the same, I feel compelled to provide a layman's analysis of this decision and its impact on the growth of the internet in China as well as the hope for greater freedom in the Middle Kingdom.
Firstly, I applaud Google and Go Daddy for standing up for its principles in lieu of short-term profit. It is often difficult to do the right thing rather than to do things right. This is especially valid in a rapidly growing marketplace like China that does not have much regards for the right thing. The media, and increasingly internet media, is under tight scrutiny by the Chinese Communist Party (CCPC), for it can stray popular opinions on a variety of sensitive subjects (e.g., Tibet, Xinjiang, Systematic corruption, endemic public inefficiency, Taiwan, Hong Kong, religious freedom, activism and many more) that are not favorable to the ruling regime and its cronies. Matter of fact, if information were to flow freely within China, it is estimated that the tyrannical powers that control the Chinese economy, government and society will collapse within 12 to 18 months. This may be a good thing for the populace who are exploited within the current socio-economic system but is detrimental to the ruling class and its colluding partners. Therefore, CCPC will and must employ the full might of its resources, including but not limited to its information ministry, state security apparatus and other departments to control directly and/or to intimidate all service providers (foreign or domestic) to toll the party line and to provide otherwise confidential and personal information about their users. Case in point: the arrest and prosecution of a Singaporean journalist for subversion through his personal emails via Yahoo in 2005. To the self-serving dictatorship that reigns over China today, these and other tactics are an invaluable tool to its command and control as well as self-survival. It will not relinquish this power.
What's not surprising is the lack of support or sympathy for Google and Go Daddy’s courageous stance from the American, European business communities and governments. Microsoft, whose email accounts were breached, and Apple Computers, who prided itself with an anti-iconic image, have been silent on this subject, while multinational companies such as GE, PG, JJ and GM have actually denounced Google for standing up for its principles against the wishes of the CCPC. Though China has a long and prosperous history and a rich culture, it is not exempt from the rule of laws, universal justice, human rights and dignity. CCPC is a political party that does not have the support of 1.5 billion Chinese and is not representative of the citizens there. Its ability to grant favorable access to these companies into its rapidly emerging marketplace with the potential of huge profit can not be deemed just cause for denial of basic rights to its citizens. If the cowardly management or political leaders in the US and Europe are not willing to stand up for their long-espoused principles (e.g., "Life, Will and the Pursuit of Happiness"), I hope that they would have the decency not to decry the brave action taken by Google and Go Daddy this week.
In the words of Thomas Jefferson almost two and a half century ago:
" ... We hold these truths to be self-evident; among them, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness....... We freely pledge our self, wealth and families to this course ......"
The question remains; Do the founding principles of America still hold true for Americans or does the opportunity to gain economically trump these principles after two and a half century?
Has Americans evolve to a state where self-perservation and obession with material comforts, including but not limited to watching football, baseball and basketball as well as video games on large screen HD televisions, transcend over the values that made this nation into a global superpower and the envy of the civilized world?
Is there the courage and strength to stand up against tyranny and the suppression of free will, liberty and human dignity that form the basis for the US Constitution and our Bill of Rights?
As for me, I say Kudos to Google and Go Daddy. May God guide their path forward and bless them for doing what's right.
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