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Except, Google is accountable to shareholders and US legal code. The US government has accountability through elections and the judicial system. What accounta

by tcbawo 7y ago

Except, Google is accountable to shareholders and US legal code. The US government has accountability through elections and the judicial system. What accountability does the Chinese government have?

wiz21c 7y ago
There's the question of culture. I'd be really happy to have an opinion about my country from a China inhabitant... I should travel there once, just to see it for myself...
Zenst 7y ago
Hard to say from an outside perspective. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_China Certainly worth a read and would be very interesting to compare what we class as democracy and accountability country by country from a neutral perspective. Though I'm not aware of any such articles of comparison.
DoofusOfDeath 7y ago
> What accountability does the Chinese government have? Presumably, they need to answer to their president.
- leesalminen 7y ago
  And their president answers to whom? Doesn’t Xi have a lifetime appointment?
duxup 7y ago
Very importantly an independent and strong judicial system.
logicchains 7y ago
A lot of good that accountability did Kim Dotcom, or the brown-skinned people being blown up by drones, or the hundred thousand civilians killed in Iraq after America brought about regime change. Over the past century America has interfered far more in other countries' affairs than China ever has. A cynical way of putting it: China's government oppresses its own people, America's government oppresses everybody but its own people. As someone neither American nor Chinese I feel China's far less likely to come along and bother me when I'm minding my own business than America is.
- seandhi 7y ago
  People in Vietnam and other SE Asian countries might disagree with this wholeheartedly. They have certainly felt the oppression from China.
- dsfyu404ed 7y ago
  >As someone neither American nor Chinese I feel China's far less likely to come along and bother me when I'm minding my own business than America is. I'd rather be "bothered" by the US than "bothered" by China because in the former you can at least make the case that they shouldn't be bothering you and expect it to be considered. Government as the sum of all the bits that make it up behaves like a power hungry sociopath. Given the choice I'll take the sociopath that at least nominally respects human rights.
- chibg10 7y ago
  >As someone neither American nor Chinese I feel China's far less likely to come along and bother me when I'm minding my own business than America is. Well no shit, only one of these two countries has had the capability to project power globally for six decades. To say China hasn't intervened in e.g. Ireland's affairs is to say pretty much nothing about its (un)desirability as a global leader. Within each country's sphere of influence though, I don't agree with the above statement in any sense though. China is far more active/aggressive (and amoral) in the affairs of its people domestically and in its regional sphere of influence than the US generally is.
  - logicchains 7y ago
    >China is far more active/aggressive (and amoral) in the affairs of its people domestically and in its regional sphere of influence than the US generally is. That's the point; it's aggressive in the affairs of _its people_. That being said, I'd disagree that the US generally leaves countries in its sphere of influence alone: the war on drugs for instance resulted in a massive amount of violence and suffering in Mexico, America's southern neighbour. America installed Pinochet in Chile, and also created various other banana republics in South America (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_republic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_republic). America is one of the only countries in the world to tax its citizens regardless of whether they live, and imposes so much bureaucracy on dealing with them that there are even European banks that refuse to serve US customers: https://www.spiegel.de/international/business/reaction-to-us-tax-law-european-banks-stop-serving-american-customers-a-803742.html https://www.spiegel.de/international/business/reaction-to-us.... US intelligence agencies somehow convinced the New Zealand spy agency to illegally wiretap Kim Dotcom (NZ is a close US ally): https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/9569986/Kim-Dotcom-NZ-Prime-Minister-apologises-over-unlawful-spy-operation.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/9569986/Kim-.... The US embargoed Cuba for decades; China trades peacefully with Taiwan.

by tcbawo 7y ago

Except, Google is accountable to shareholders and US legal code. The US government has accountability through elections and the judicial system. What accountability does the Chinese government have?

wiz21c 7y ago

There's the question of culture. I'd be really happy to have an opinion about my country from a China inhabitant... I should travel there once, just to see it for myself...

Zenst 7y ago

Hard to say from an outside perspective. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_China Certainly worth a read and would be very interesting to compare what we class as democracy and accountability country by country from a neutral perspective. Though I'm not aware of any such articles of comparison.

DoofusOfDeath 7y ago

> What accountability does the Chinese government have? Presumably, they need to answer to their president.

leesalminen 7y ago
And their president answers to whom? Doesn’t Xi have a lifetime appointment?

duxup 7y ago

Very importantly an independent and strong judicial system.

logicchains 7y ago

A lot of good that accountability did Kim Dotcom, or the brown-skinned people being blown up by drones, or the hundred thousand civilians killed in Iraq after America brought about regime change. Over the past century America has interfered far more in other countries' affairs than China ever has. A cynical way of putting it: China's government oppresses its own people, America's government oppresses everybody but its own people. As someone neither American nor Chinese I feel China's far less likely to come along and bother me when I'm minding my own business than America is.

seandhi 7y ago
People in Vietnam and other SE Asian countries might disagree with this wholeheartedly. They have certainly felt the oppression from China.
dsfyu404ed 7y ago
>As someone neither American nor Chinese I feel China's far less likely to come along and bother me when I'm minding my own business than America is. I'd rather be "bothered" by the US than "bothered" by China because in the former you can at least make the case that they shouldn't be bothering you and expect it to be considered. Government as the sum of all the bits that make it up behaves like a power hungry sociopath. Given the choice I'll take the sociopath that at least nominally respects human rights.
chibg10 7y ago
>As someone neither American nor Chinese I feel China's far less likely to come along and bother me when I'm minding my own business than America is. Well no shit, only one of these two countries has had the capability to project power globally for six decades. To say China hasn't intervened in e.g. Ireland's affairs is to say pretty much nothing about its (un)desirability as a global leader. Within each country's sphere of influence though, I don't agree with the above statement in any sense though. China is far more active/aggressive (and amoral) in the affairs of its people domestically and in its regional sphere of influence than the US generally is.
- logicchains 7y ago
  >China is far more active/aggressive (and amoral) in the affairs of its people domestically and in its regional sphere of influence than the US generally is. That's the point; it's aggressive in the affairs of _its people_. That being said, I'd disagree that the US generally leaves countries in its sphere of influence alone: the war on drugs for instance resulted in a massive amount of violence and suffering in Mexico, America's southern neighbour. America installed Pinochet in Chile, and also created various other banana republics in South America (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_republic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_republic). America is one of the only countries in the world to tax its citizens regardless of whether they live, and imposes so much bureaucracy on dealing with them that there are even European banks that refuse to serve US customers: https://www.spiegel.de/international/business/reaction-to-us-tax-law-european-banks-stop-serving-american-customers-a-803742.html https://www.spiegel.de/international/business/reaction-to-us.... US intelligence agencies somehow convinced the New Zealand spy agency to illegally wiretap Kim Dotcom (NZ is a close US ally): https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/9569986/Kim-Dotcom-NZ-Prime-Minister-apologises-over-unlawful-spy-operation.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/9569986/Kim-.... The US embargoed Cuba for decades; China trades peacefully with Taiwan.