Trading with the Enemy

The Wall Street Journal headline reads, "Cisco Poised to Help China Keep an Eye on Its Citizens."

Tech giant Cisco is providing much of the hardware that the Chinese city of Chongqing (oh, if that were only an allowable Scrabble word) needs to rig up a network of 500,000 cameras officials say they need to fight crime.

The name the Chinese have given the project pretty much guarantees that the Chinese are really up to no good. They're calling the installation of 500,000 spy cameras, "Peaceful Chongqing." As an armchair China watcher over the years, I've learned that whatever name the Communist Chinese give a project, it's a safe bet that the truth is exactly the opposite.

For example, the purpose of the "Cultural Revolution" was to destroy Chinese culture. The "Great Leap Forward" was a huge step backwards. You get the point. The "Peaceful Chongqing" project would probably be better served by a moniker like "The Project to Terrorize, Intimidate and Eliminate Dissidents."

The fascinating aspect of Cisco's participation is that the U.S. company has made its gazillions on the Internet, which Chinese officials—if they had their deepest and darkest wishes—would like to see just wither away.

Of course, Cisco isn't alone in its pursuit of Chinese cash. Legions of American and European companies are bidding against one another for "lucrative" Chinese contracts. However, it has to be obvious to any intellectually honest observer by now that China doesn't want to participate in world commerce and political discourse, the country wants to dominate world commerce and political discourse. And, western companies are low balling each other to win the contracts that will eventually provide China with the infrastructure it needs to get the job done. Google, to its credit, at one point turned its back on China over the issue of search results censorship.

The situation demonstrates a weakness of capitalism. Anyone who reads more than a sentence or two that I write knows that I think that capitalism is by far the best economic system. However, I believe that capitalism originally developed in a culture firmly rooted in Judeo-Christian ethics. Over the last several decades that foundation, although never perfect, has eroded to a point where it is all but gone.

I don't believe there are very many powerful contemporary capitalists who realize what will happen if, to put it bluntly, China wins. All the personal and commercial liberties that are the basis of modern capitalism will eventually go away. China will contract with Western companies only as long as it needs to. We already know that one of the big requirements China often places on contracts with Western firms includes the transfer of vital technologies.

Again, as an armchair China watcher, I haven't yet heard the Communist Party leadership disavow adherence to Communist principles. The country's opening up to Western commerce will last only as long as it serves the Communists' interests.

Vladimir Lenin said, "The capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them." Cisco and many other Western firms are today's rope salesmen.