

Why Pick On China - joe_the_user
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704041504575045573110641044.html

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prole
Gilder's opinion piece went from nebulous to outright flamebait upon reading
these back-to-back lines:

 _It is ironic that liberals who once welcomed appeasement of the monstrous
regime of Mao Zedong now become openly bellicose at various murky incidents of
Internet hacking._

 _Nonetheless, with millions of Islamists on its borders and within them,
China is nearly as threatened by radical Islam as we are._

His other comments aside, the answer to Gilder's question of "why antagonize
China" isn't "to make another enemy." He claims that it's self-destructive for
Western nations to pressure the Chinese government on issues such as human
rights or pollution, but without such pressure, the results will be much more
destructive for the Chinese citizens marginalized by their government.

Allowing the PRC to get away with their "but we're still a developing nation"
cop-out every time the pressure is on to do the Right Thing is setting
ourselves up for much bigger problems later on. If China wants to work with
us, trade with us, and be regarded as a modern nation, it needs some help,
yes, and some peer pressure along with it. We're a global community and we
have some expectations - ones unsurprisingly not met by the "enemies" listed
in Gilder's article.

We are, in fact, attempting to guide China towards a particular path so that
it DOESN'T become an enemy later on. That is why we pick on them: it's tough
love.

------
dnsworks
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-jwj-Bqfe8>

