The BBC news reports on Yahoo!’s testimony before the House Foreign Affairs committee today. This is a follow up to earlier testimony where Yahoo! claimed it didn’t know why China’s government wanted help identifying an internet user (the user was subsequently jailed in an egregious free speech issue - really, read the short article for the deets).
While the article finishes with mention of a forthcoming bill banning internet companies from cooperating with China in such matters, I’m mostly upset with the double standard our government holds towards the Eastern super power.
Committee Chairman, Representative Tom Lantos, made a great point when he said, “I do not believe America’s brightest and best companies should be playing integral roles in China’s notorious and brutal political repression apparatus.” I checked his voting record regarding China, and he seems to have consistently voted his disapproval of China’s handling of human rights issues.
The majority of our government, however, still seems to feel that China is good for business. Resolutions to stop extending normal trade relations with China continue to fail. Our trade deficit wouldn’t continue to increase if we weren’t so willing to import their goods and trade openly with them as if they were the United Kingdom.
When you consider what China does on a regular business to their own people, it’s a wonder we’re not trading with Cuba. Oh, that’s right. They don’t have all the cheap manufactured goods our population craves.
I’m not perfect here myself, either - I probably use and own plenty of goods manufactured in China, but I’m working on weeding that out when possible.
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