Bill Gates, as a born capitalist, came to the defense of China and criticized Google (its competitor…) in the ongoing polemic.
According to Billie “the Chinese efforts to censor the Internet have been limited; it’s easy to go around and foreigners are expected to respect the laws of China”. Of course he forgot to mention the Chinese government has to respect the law too.
If the West is now obliged to kowtow to the autocrats here, it’s because they harvest what they sowed. The big MNC want profits by selling as much as they can at rock-bottom prices to the Western consumers – who get hooked on cheap goods their countries cannot deliver at that price level. Result: China became the factory of the World churning out cheap goods, creating environmental problems, killing all the competition and financing it all on top of that. Quality might be low but that’s mainly the fault of those MNC. Don’t blame China. You get what you pay for. And the USA has to be nice to its major creditor.
Western consumers are now dependent on the cheap, throw-away goods, as the Chinese were forced to buy opium centuries ago. Sweet revenge!
Billie does not want to ruin his chances for his “Evil Empire”, for Bing and the rest.
What Billie forgot is that for most here getting a decent VPN (paid in USD) is not that easy, “to go around the Wall”; and that so many websites we need are blocked and obviously not because of pornography. The Chinese Constitution guarantees free speech. Small problem, the Constitution here is actually illegal as it cannot be used and is banned from any court.
Yes Billie, next time you land in Beijing, your red carpet is waiting for you, straight to The Great Hall of The People.