Photography - Apple bends over for China

On 31/12/2020 15:57, RichA wrote:
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-55497222

Foreign company obeys law in a jurisdiction. This is hardly news
although the clickbait nature of this is noted. Most of the rest of the
article is really a commentary on the usual run of the mill headline
issues any government would consider and a fair bit of bureaucratic
inertia too which isn't unique. Putting aside Apples predictable PR
there are of course human rights issues and cultural differences.
Personally speaking I'd rather these were discussed in an informed way
than lurid edited for size articles by mass media filling their quota
for the day.

That said while Chinas technical and economic achievements are laudable
I share peoples concerns about human rights issues and other failures.

On item did catch my eye. While waging war against certain types of apps
on the ground in China there are "local facilities" police turn a blind
eye to and equivalent websites available in Hong Kong which Chinese
people visit much like Saudis visit the UAE. China only became
prohibtionist in recent decades but Chinese law is very underdeveloped
and things are determined at a local level where to varying degrees they
can be legal in practice if not always in strict law. China's Catholic
morals aside a good portion of the intent driving Chinese law and
enforcement action on this issue is driven by a desire to enhance
self-determination by stamping out corruption and abuse by criminal
third parties like the Nordic model on steroids with all its
counterproductive elements. It's a bit of a mess and one of those you
wouldn't begin here kind of things.

On the reverse there is the capitalist version of Maoism whereby foreign
companies are required to partner with a local Chinese company. This is
problematic for lots of reasons. IP hijacking and protectionism are
obvious issues as are suspicions of political control pulling the
strings but this is probably an artefact of the Chinese one nation two
systems stuff. There is also Chinas currently dominant conservatism with
no real effective counterbalance.

There is a lot to unpack about China and yes the West doesn't always get
it and has legitimate concerns with China but I also think the idea that
China is some kind of weird and alien place isn't helping the quality of
discussion and diplomacy. A lot about China is actually quite simple and
no different from anywhere else only perhaps in degree and arrangement.

--
Melanie van Buren