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You don't get "uppity" with Chinese officials. You either have a good connection to the government or you can do squat. Government ties is everything if you rea
by Bjoern 16y ago
You don't get "uppity" with Chinese officials. You either have a good connection to the government or you can do squat. Government ties is everything if you really want to get your business going.
The real problem is the international companies providing all this nifty IT tech to actually realize this 1984 path what is going on in China.
- jacquesm 16y agoYes, they're a real pain. I don't think it is as much that they don't realize it, they just see it as a way to make money. Take Cisco for example: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/05/leaked-cisco-do/ http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/05/leaked-cisco-do/
- natch 16y agoPlease name names.
- jacquesm 16y agoCisco, Nortel (now Avaya). source: http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=4854 http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=4854 There may be others though.
- falien 16y agoAll of the equipment is manufactured in China anyway... Why would they not sell to the Chinese government when the alternative is for the government to get the unbranded equipment that is manufactured when the factory is "offline". :P
- jhancock 16y agoI've worked inside various China government departments. In many respects, they have less data on China citizens than the U.S. government has access to on U.S. citizens. If China is on a "1984 path", all I can tell you is the U.S. and UK are ahead of them at the moment in terms of data collection. As to needing to be an insider to get your business going. This is only true for certain types of business. For those types, as a foreigner, you'd do well to stay out of it anyway, without regard to how connected you are.
- flsvilling 16y agoChina still takes the lead in censorship.
- jacquesm 16y agoI wouldn't bet on that. The US is full of 'self-censors', and that in a way is even more chilling.