4 ms·
>People think that because they understand how things work in the US, they understand how things work in China. That because in the US businesses have functiona
by NickC25 3y ago
>People think that because they understand how things work in the US, they understand how things work in China. That because in the US businesses have functional constitutionally granted protections from government overreach, that China functional constitutionally granted protections from government overreach. Which is completely not the case. China is essentially a dictatorship. With one leader of one party that dominates everything, kangaroo courts and disappearing family, the works.
Having worked with a Chinese University and had a Chinese business as a client, I can attest that this is indeed the case. It's not essentially a dictatorship, it IS a dictatorship. Except it's not by one person, it's by a political party that has ingrained itself at every level of one's life in that country.
In the US, there is the government, there are private companies who don't interact with the government at all, there are public companies who don't directly work with the state but still have influence on the state (think large scale food providers or airlines or car makers), and there are public companies that sometimes can blur the separation line due to how ingrained they are with the state's infrastructure (for example, Lockheed-Martin or Microsoft). Sometimes any of these different types of entities might be asked to do the state's bidding, but they can refuse (in some cases) or negotiate, or get things in return (tax breaks, etc).
In China, there is The Party. That's it. Everything is intentionally an arm of the state, directly or indirectly. The Party controls everything and every action any organization of any meaningful size whatsoever is directly done to aid The Party's goals. The Party has a representative at the highest level of every major company in China, and said representative isn't just there to be in meetings, they are there to control the company to make sure said company is doing what The Party wants them to do.
Keep in mind that China's goals != The Party's goals....despite what The Party wants you (and its citizens) to think.
Jack Ma fucked himself off the Ant Financial deal because The Party representatives at Ant were also the heads of the Chinese state bank. He talked shit to their faces, so The Party decided that he was too big, so they took him to task and made him "donate" a few billion to The Party.
Imagine if Zuck told the government regulators to pound sand on national TV, and the government basically responded with "ok, well, you can donate 25% of your net worth to our political party, or the world will never hear from you again". That's China.
- paddw 3y agoYou're right it's much worse in China, but if Zuck did in fact tell regulators to "pound sand" on national TV, I think it's pretty likely Meta would start to see some new interpretations of laws enforced against it... There is no country in the world where you can insult powerful people for free
- mrguyorama 3y agoThey can reinterpret existing laws slightly more aggressively, and they can make new laws that Zuck would then have to continue breaking and go after Meta for that, but unlike China, they cannot arbitrarily put him in jail for something his business does, and they cannot change how Meta works without writing new legislation that would absolutely get thrown out by the Supreme court. That's the entire point though. The relationship between Meta and the State is governed predominantly by letter of law and the system of the court. It's not perfect, but it absolutely puts limitations on government retribution towards a company that does something workers of the State do not like, but is legal. In China, the relationship between a private company (in as much as that can exist in China) and the State is governed ENTIRELY by the whims of the party. There is no way to limit the party to things that are "legal", because laws do not constrain the party.
- Nextgrid 3y ago> There is no country in the world where you can insult powerful people for free Zuck is above every "powerful person" he met at that hearing. Those people owe their position, careers and livelihoods to votes and ultimately public opinion. Guess who nowadays controls a large chunk of humanity's social fabric? Piss him off and you may as well be dead as far as your voter base is concerned, since nobody on Facebook properties will ever hear anything about you (on the other hand they will hear plenty about your competitors).
- toss1 3y agoStop trying to make a false equivalence. Jack Ma forking disappeared for three months [0]. Then lost a huge amount of money and influence over his empire, and he has been extremely quiet since then. It is not hard to see that had not complied, he would still be disappeared. In contrast, look at the US. Disney publicly tells a state gov and POTUS candidate that his proposed law is bad. Gov, with his entire political party apparatus retaliates. Disney repeatedly counters every move and comes out on top, massively embarrassing the state governor. China is a nation ruled by a dictatorship/authoritarian state. The US is, for the time being, ruled by law (there are those trying to change that). In a democratic govt, all branches of govt (legislative, judicial, executive), and all areas of society (industry, press, academia, non-profits/NGOs, clubs, sports, etc.) are independent. In an authoritarian system, all of the branches of government and parts of society are bent to the will of the dictator/party. The distinction is critical. [0]