UNIT III Essay
Joe Johnson
11-25-14
UNIV 112
There is a great crime being committed that will surely change the face of a very
influential nation in the global realm. And one day, this will need to be brought to justice,
because if we don’t act, this could surely affect us at home. The people of China are
being deprived of an open access to Google, and other forms of electronic information by
their Communist leadership. The United States should issue economic sanctions on the
Country of China if it does not cease to censor the search engine Google. China is a
very important nation in the global marketplace, if we fail to act to help their citizens be
able to catch up in the international economy, it could have massive repercussions for us
politically and economically. The United States should issue sanctions to limit Chinese
censorship laws, because it is a violation the basic rights of Chinese citizens; it is taking
away what they need to compete in a global marketplace, it limits them on what services
they can use that are necessary, and used daily. Also, by limiting their free speech, the
Communist Chinese Government will have no public opposition when infringing upon
the rights of their citizens.
The Need For United States Action in Chinese Human Rights [Definition,
Quantitative Reasoning Revision]
Depriving someone is taking away something that someone needs. The
Chinese government is doing this to their citizens because they are not allowed to
view or say certain things on the Internet. The rapid evolvement of Chinese culture
has caused the government to maintain state control by issuing much stricter laws on their
peoples’ rights to speech and press. There is now a conflict between the Internet as a
force of democratization, and the Chinese state as being one of deprecation (Tan and Tan
471). Even countries like the United States regulate what is available for viewing on the
Internet. But, China has places special emphasis on extensive control over society and the
economy.
China, since the introduction of the Internet in the 1970s has seen massive
economic growth. According to the minister of the National Development and Reform
Commission of China, the nations Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which measures the
output of a nations economy, grew on average 9.67% per year from 1978 to 2006, and
exceeded this average further to 2008 despite the global recession (Tan and Tan 470).
This contrasts the United States whose GDP was -0.3% in 2008 (“GDP Growth”). This
growth was due to the fact that there was a massive jump in information technology
introduced into the nation (Tan and Tan 470). According to statistics from the China
Internet Network Information Center, the amount of Chinese citizens using the internet
reached 384 million in 2009, and increased annually by 86 million people (Tan and Tan
469). By 2009, the Internet penetration rate in the nation reached 28.9% (Tan and Tan
469). Meaning that almost 30% of all Chinese citizens used the Internet by that year.
Whereas the global Internet penetration rate at that time was only 23.4% (Argaez).
The comparison between the United States GDP and the Chinese GDP in 2008
showed how the use of the Internet has caused China to become very successful because
of their growth in information technology. The fact that Chinese citizens could use the
Internet to gain access to information more easily meant that they could compete in the
global market place (Tan and Tan 470). The parallel in data from the GDP and the
growth of the use of the Internet in China is shown in the data (Tan and Tan 470).
After China introduced many laws issuing blocks on certain Google search terms,
and introduced their own version of Google called Baidu, Google threatened to pull it s
services from the nation in 2010 (Tan and Tan 469). This came with many unforeseen
consequences. Suddenly, in 2010 the annual GDP of the nation of China dropped to 8.7%
(Tan and Tan 472). To put this in perspective, this would be like when in 2005, the
United States went from a 3.4% GDP to that of only a 2.7% in 2006, and this lead to the
sudden decline that became the recession that began in 2007 (“GDP Growth”). This
proves that lessening on restrictions of certain laws could help benefit the economic
growth China and the United States as well as a trade partner. Clearly, when China began
issuing these restrictive laws, and it lead to a domino effect of bad fortune and bad
business for China.
The Need for Google and an Open Internet [Circumstance]
Google is a service that is commonly used in the country of China, and the
country uses it and its services just as much as we do, and has grown dependent
upon it. Censorship prevents full access and necessary services. The use of the
Internet and search engines like Google is now an everyday tool in life for Chinese
citizens and government officials. This shows that not only does the public need full
access to the internet, but so does their low-level government officials to serve their
constituents (Huang 42). Not only does China’s citizens use Google, but so does its
people in power. It is reported that central leaders of the country “can see public opinion
information collected and assembled by the related departments and government organs
from the Internet on the same day,” and that more and more Chinese government officials
“regard surfing online as a day-to-day routine task they must do” (Huang 42). Chinese
officials use Google and the Internet to poll how citizens feel about the government.
Also, the Chinese government blocks certain websites that seem to advertise political and
social beliefs outside their own (Huang 42). Google has become an important tool for
both private and public use.
Chinese Government and Other Cases of Human Rights Issues [Comparison,
Argumentative Fairness Revision]
The Chinese government’s censorship of Internet services such as Google is
similar to that of when President Ronald Reagan ordered Premier Gorbachev of the
U.S.S.R to take down the Berlin Wall, because they both violated the rights of the
people’s rights to free speech and other inherent rights, and prevented certain
people from being able to compete in the modern market place. This is why the
United States needs to act and issue economic sanctions on the country of China if it does
not cease to censor Google and other Internet sites and services. Even though other
nations (democratic or not) do censor what their citizen’s view, China has been willing to
sacrifice their own people’s economic benefits and freedom of speech and press to ensure
their own control over their people. This is why the United States must act. One example
of why we must act is the comparison to that of when Reagan ordered Gorbachev to tear
down the Berlin Wall that separate East and West Berlin (Lukes). For decades, the Berlin
Wall had prevented the people of Soviet-controlled East Berlin had stood as both a
symbol and a physical barrier. It prevented citizens of the country to leave and travel
freely, but also signified that every aspect of their lives, including free speech, was
controlled and restricted by the government (Lukes). Reagan took action, and his speech
at the Brandenburg Gate June 12, 1987 in Berlin, was a sign that the United States was
not afraid to stand against a nation that deprived a people of their rights (Jones and
Rowland 23). However, departments of the Chinese government such as the Chinese
Commerce Ministry, and Jian Yu, Spokeswoman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry (Tan
and Tan 474) argued that the censorship was for “state safety”, protecting the nation from
hackers, pornography, and Internet scams (Tan and Tan 474). The fact is that in both
China the people of the nation are having their rights of free speech taken away and the
United States needs to issue economic sanctions to stop this. Just like in East Berlin,
where the Soviets used the Wall to both take away their right of free speech, and other
rights as well.
Some might say, that the issue between Google and China is more of a business
issue than an issue of rights. With China using the argument that Internet regulation is
used to protect the general welfare of the nation, it seems more of and issue of Google’s
economic issues in the country, and not the fact that Google is leaving due to the fact that
Chinese citizens are being deprived of their basic rights. According to two researchers
Ting Mu and Mingming Wang of the Renmin University of China, the Chinese service of
Baidu, which is a government regulated search engine in China (Tan and Tan 469),
“profit indicators of Baidu are slightly higher than those of Google, indicating that Baidu
has greater growth potential than Google,”(Mu and Wang). The fact is that Google has
been losing to the ever-growing search engine Baidu, and continuing to battle them may
be too costly.
Even though there may be economic aspects to the issue of Chinese censorship of
the Internet, there is no question that the rights of free speech for the citizens of China are
being taken away, and this censorship is making it hard for them to compete in the global
marketplace, but maybe not as severe as in the Soviet controlled East Berlin. This is
supported by many facts. First, Google leaving China would cause a massive restriction
on how the Chinese gather information. Google is in fact responsible for giving Chinese
citizens 35 percent of its information (Swift). Google having to leave the nation due to
government restrictions would seriously harm citizens in the way they gathered their
information. Secondly, the laws the government put in place makes it so only websites
that are procommunist or seem not against goal of the government are allowed,
thoroughly getting rid of any form of free thought and speech outside of the
government’s goals (Tan and Tan 471). While there are some economic repercussions
from the censorship of some Goggle services, when Google lost 1.5 percent of its value
in the stock market. The United States was quickly able to recover from this without
regaining those shares from China (Tan and Tan 472). The fact is that there is a group of
people who are having there rights taken away by there own government, and the United
States must act by issuing economic sanctions on the nation, to help end this atrocity.
The Expansion of Government Control In China [Consequence]
If the United States does not respond to the ever-growing issue of the Chinese
depriving their citizens of free speech, the country could continue to take away their
people’s rights because they will have no one to stand against them. Chinese citizens are
far more passionate about their use of the Internet, they are known to use the Internet
almost as regularly as their U.S. counterparts. This is because the Internet allows Chinese
citizens to have an open forum for debate and information that their Communist
government doesn’t always allow them to have (Huang 42). Tests have shown that
Chinese citizens are more likely to use the Internet as their main source of news. They
are dependent upon services from companies like Google to help them gather information
on a day-to-day basis (Huang 42). Google and the Internet is very important to Chinese
citizens who use it as a tool to conduct everyday live. Stripping them of these services
could have a hugely negative impact on the nation (Huang 46). Not issuing economic
sanctions on China for ceasing the censorship on Google could result in the complete
censorship and control of speech and press in the country.
Chinese Censorship and The United States’ Power [Authority]
Congress should issue economic sanctions on China to stop censorship of
Google. Congress has the power to shut off trade, and the power to do this comes
from the immense economic prowess of the United States Legislative Branch given
to them by the United States Constitution, and their large budget. Already, measures
have been taken to show how Google not being available in China will negatively impact
the nation. The federal government, headed by the State Department, is trying to
convince China on how devastating of an effect there would be on their country if Google
left. By Google threatening to leave due to the censorship laws, China would lose one of
the most prominent institutions in the world (Swift). However, the effect on the United
States would be rather miniscule. For example, in one case when Google lost shares in
China, members of Wall Street took immediate action, and all lost value was quickly
regained (Swift). Whereas in China, Congress would have the ability to shut down 27
percent of China’s information market if they issued a ban on Google in China alone
(Swift).
The Violations Of Chinese Human Rights [Value, Ethical Reasoning Revision]
The United States should issue economic sanctions on the country of China if
it does not cease its censorship laws on the search engine Google, because not only
does it violate the basic human right to freedom of speech of the people of China but
also the rights given to them in article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights drafted by the United Nations. This law makes all humans equal, and secure in
their private lives and ignoring to enforce that law would be a violation for the unity and
protection of all peoples that this world has worked so hard to achieve. In China, the
competing search engine with Google called Baidu, actively complies with Internet
censorship and follows all governmental laws, rules, and regulations to achieve stable
growth with the backing of the Communist government (Tan 475). Google’s use of
blocking search terms, and supporting their own-censored version of Google, keeps the
Chinese people from being allowed to exercise free speech (Tan 475). To China, this is
an issue of state sovereignty and self-government of their own people. But, this struggle
shows how the people of China are constantly being deprived of their rights, and their
inability to fully function in the world market is due to their lack resources being
prevented by their government. By issuing sanctions on China for blocking certain sites
and services on Google, the United States could begin a process of China becoming
democratized and giving their citizens access to the services they need to operate in the
modern international world.
The Chinese government has proven that it is willing to take a loss in business
from some companies in order to maintain its control over information flow within its
population (Tan 474). This is an abomination because not only is China willing to punish
its own economy and its people’s incomes, it is violating the laws laid out by the United
Nations in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which grants all
peoples the freedom of thought and speech. However, forcing a nation to comply with
certain foreign services and laws could seem like a violation of state rule. Where does the
United States have the moral authority to force China to comply with the same laws that it
follows? The United States must act because China has shown it is deliberately depriving
its citizens not only rights that are believed by the international community as inherent,
but also because China is forcing its nation down a sink-hole of economic downturn due to
a government that is willing to sacrifice the success of its people in order to maintain
control over what their people see. Frank La Rue the United Nations Special Rapporteur
on Freedom of Expression and Opinion said during the debates on Internet privacy in
2013, “The right to privacy is often understood as an essential requirement for the
realization of the right to freedom of expression. Undue interference with individuals’
privacy can both directly and indirectly limit the free development and exchange of ideas.
… An infringement upon one right can be both the cause and consequence of an
infringement upon the other.” The United States should issue economic sanctions on the
country of China because its censorship laws on the search engine Google violate the
basic human rights of freedom of speech and how can we as a nation of democracy and
freedom continue to advertise that belief if we do not reach out and squash out the last bits
of moral injustice in a nation that will not allow their people the things they need so that
they can operate successfully in the modern world.
Conclusion:
The United States must act to limit Chinese censorship laws. They are a violation
of the rights of Chinese Citizens and they take away what these people need to use to
compete in the global market place. Chinese citizens use the Internet daily, and don’t
have access to necessary services and programs. By limiting their free speech, the
Communist Chinese Government will have no public opposition when infringing upon
the rights of their citizens. If we do not act, the nation will; surely fall into disarray and
cause economic and political tension between them and us. The United States should
issue economic sanctions on the Country of China if it does not cease to censor the search
engine Google. Otherwise, how can we say we are a nation of freedom of justice if we do
not fight injustice?
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