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The original idea was that if the West opened its economy to China, they would inevitably liberalize. Many years later it's clear that was naive, but that's wh

The original idea was that if the West opened its economy to China, they would inevitably liberalize. Many years later it's clear that was naive, but that's why the incredibly one sided rules are/were tolerated.

gaius 8y ago
I think it was probably self-delusional. The billion-consumer Chinese market was dangled like a carrot, just give up all your IP to a local “partner”. But the Party never had even the slightest intention of giving Western companies access.
- withhighprod 8y ago
  I wonder what would Apple’s market share be with the whole China iPhone sales wipped out. Funny comment
pacificmint 8y ago
The New York Times podcast, The Daily, had a two part episode on that very topic a few weeks ago. [1][2] It explored how China started opening the economy and how western politics assumed that between the economy and the internet, political change in China as all but inevitable. And of course how very wrong that turns out to be in hindsight. I’d highly recommend those episodes. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/04/podcasts/the-daily/china-rules.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/04/podcasts/the-daily/china-... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/05/podcasts/the-daily/china-rules-part-2.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/05/podcasts/the-daily/china-...
rchaud 8y ago
That was Nixon-era politics, and done in a cynical way to send a message to Russia. US-Sino relations were always somewhat tense due to the Taiwan question. It would have been politically costly for any sitting President to say "let's give the CCP American business". The reason economic liberalization happened was because Deng Xiaoping saw the writing on the wall. Additionally, corporate interests in the US (represented by the Chamber of Commerce) had been beating down the doors of politicians to relax restrictions on doing business there. If the appetite to offshore jobs was not there, there is no reason why the US would have made it easy to do business there.

gaius 8y ago

I think it was probably self-delusional. The billion-consumer Chinese market was dangled like a carrot, just give up all your IP to a local “partner”. But the Party never had even the slightest intention of giving Western companies access.

withhighprod 8y ago
I wonder what would Apple’s market share be with the whole China iPhone sales wipped out. Funny comment

pacificmint 8y ago

The New York Times podcast, The Daily, had a two part episode on that very topic a few weeks ago. [1][2] It explored how China started opening the economy and how western politics assumed that between the economy and the internet, political change in China as all but inevitable. And of course how very wrong that turns out to be in hindsight. I’d highly recommend those episodes. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/04/podcasts/the-daily/china-rules.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/04/podcasts/the-daily/china-... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/05/podcasts/the-daily/china-rules-part-2.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/05/podcasts/the-daily/china-...

rchaud 8y ago

That was Nixon-era politics, and done in a cynical way to send a message to Russia. US-Sino relations were always somewhat tense due to the Taiwan question. It would have been politically costly for any sitting President to say "let's give the CCP American business". The reason economic liberalization happened was because Deng Xiaoping saw the writing on the wall. Additionally, corporate interests in the US (represented by the Chamber of Commerce) had been beating down the doors of politicians to relax restrictions on doing business there. If the appetite to offshore jobs was not there, there is no reason why the US would have made it easy to do business there.