Human rights in China remains a disaster. The Chinese government uses the internet as a sophisticated tool of political surveillance and oppression. There is no freedom of speech and Big Brother is always watching and ready to put critics of the government in jail. And there is no sign of reform on the horizon. The Chinese Communist Party just announced a new law giving the Chinese government access to the communications and intellectual property of any company operating inside its borders.
Meanwhile, our trade agreement with China is supposed to be enforced by unelected and unaccountable international bodies like the World Trade Organization (WTO). The WTO, like so many other entities corrupted by Chinese and global corporate influences, governs international trade like little dictators. This isn’t free trade as Americans understand it; it’s just corruption and cronyism.
But we can’t continue to blame them. It’s time to blame ourselves for letting them get away with it. Chinese communists, corporate thieves and oily international bureaucrats are shady by definition. They have no reason to serve America’s interests. That’s our government’s job, and they haven’t been doing it.
