“Woke Capitalism” Needs to Wake Up to the Truth about China

“As Jim Geraghty writes, rather than importing our values, China is exporting its repression into our societies on the back of mass industrial theft and espionage.”

During the Cold War, Western business backed the efforts to contain and then bring down the Communist empire of the Soviet Union. This could be attributed both to patriotic sentiments held by industry leaders, combined with economic concerns, given the vast potential markets that existed behind the Iron Curtain that were off-limits to Western businesses. Going further back to World War II, this sense of patriotism, combined with economic incentives, meant that the United States became the manufacturing powerhouse behind the Allied powers, such as was described by historian Arthur Hermann in Freedom’s Forge. Now, there is increasing debate over whether some leading Western corporations are engaging in the appeasement of a rising, totalitarian China.

Two recent incidents call into question our ability to deal with China’s increasing ascension on the world stage. First we have Daryl Morey, manager of the Houston Rockets NBA team, who tweeted in support of the Hong Kong protestors. He was denounced by the Chinese consulate in Houston—and by his team’s owner. The Chinese Basketball Association then announced it was suspending cooperation with the Rockets. Morey offered a forced apology, while the NBA’s statement called his tweet “regrettable.” Morey’s job was on the line to appease the Chinese. Now, pro-Hong Kong and pro-Uighur fans are thrown out of and silenced during NBA games. Given the size of the market for basketball in China, was anyone really expecting the NBA to show some moral spine when their bottom line was under threat? This demonstrates that free trade with China comes with certain strings attached.

Before this, billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s appearance on PBS’s Firing Line demonstrated serious levels of naivety concerning the role of China in parts of the corporate world. When asked about China’s record on the environment, Bloomberg answered that China would have to reduce its pollution because the people would demand it. Xi Jinping would apparently listen because “Xi Jinping is not a dictator. He has to satisfy his constituents or he’s not going to survive.” Bloomberg then concluded his somewhat delusional monologue on the responsiveness of President Xi by claiming that “No government survives without the will of the majority of its people. He has to deliver services!”