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Who is "China" who picks "their" version? The Chinese Communist Party, or the Chinese people? How would China become dependent on the West if Chinese people ha
by gohrt 10y ago
Who is "China" who picks "their" version? The Chinese Communist Party, or the Chinese people?
How would China become dependent on the West if Chinese people had access to non-CommunityParty ideas?
- jondubois 10y agoChinese people would be consuming western media through Facebook, Twitter etc... Through this media, they would be shown advertisements for US companies selling US products. Soon enough, Chinese people would no longer be content with Chinese-made goods and services from small Chinese suppliers (e.g. through decentralized marketplaces like Alibaba) - Instead they would start buying US goods through centralized marketplaces like Amazon and Apple store - Basically the money would leave China and they would all be worse off on average. By keeping western media out, they keep Chinese money in. Don't ignore the fact that media is paid for almost entirely by advertising and that advertising is paid for entirely by companies who need to sell products.
- seanmcdirmid 10y ago> Instead they would start buying US goods through centralized marketplaces like Amazon and Apple store Both totally available in China already via their local forms (store.apple.cn and amazon.cn). My wife orders from Amazon a lot.
- ralusek 10y agoLetting the Chinese people choose what the Chinese people want is what's right for the Chinese people. If they are advertised US products and Chinese products, and they purchase US products, so be it. It happens in the other direction all the time, and it funds China from the west. Economics aside though, there are enormously dangerous consequences to controlling the exchange of information.
- mindcrime 10y agoInstead they would start buying US goods through centralized marketplaces like Amazon and Apple store What "US good" - all that stuff is made in China to begin with! Well, OK, not literally everything, but as interconnected as the global economy is, what you are proposing strikes me as pretty much nonsensical. China won't benefit from "protecting" itself from trading with the West.
- jonathankoren 10y ago>Soon enough, Chinese people would no longer be content with Chinese-made goods and services from small Chinese suppliers Seeing China's nouveau riche and the general demand for western luxury goods, and hell even Buicks, you don't know what you're talking about.