...And Then, There's China!

I just finished watching Bill Moyer's "Journal" on PBS. His guest was Philip Pan, author of "Out of Mao's Shadow". In the interview Mr. Pan sheds light on the "Real" China - and the idea of it not necessarily being what we're viewing of the the Olympics in Beijing.

The talking points were on human and workers' rights. He also spoke to the idea of political liberalization, China using Capitalism to make Communism stronger, increased relative freedoms, and the idea of continued trade solving all of our contentions with China - as suggested it would do by our last two Presidents. Mr. Pan spoke of these points in terms of them, on the whole, being a dilemma. A dilemma because with the good that is being established in China, there is also much perpetuation of the bad. The following is my understanding of one of these dilemmas; Workers' rights.

According to Mr. Pan and understood by many, China doesn't think very highly of labor unions. The Chinese government prefers full control of the workforce to maintain their cheap labor pool so as to keep multi-nationals' interest in having factories in China. Lower labor costs mean Wal-Mart will continue to operate factories in China. To China this means income, and something else too. It means - to China - that it can turn to its citizens and say, "You see, the world thinks we are legitimate because "they" want their factories here." It acts to reinforce a type of Communist propoganda used toward the Chinese people themselves to emphasize the goodness and success of Communism. If you consider that there are hundreds of U.S. and multi-national corporations operating factories in China today, that adds up to a whole bunch of "legitimacy".

If Wal-Mart was to advocate for workers' rights in China, it wouldn't be a win/win situation any longer. That's sad. On the other hand, factories operated by multi-nationals allow for a higher degree of income available to the Chinese population, and thus more freedoms brought by disposable income. The sixteen or seventeen year old girl in an outlying village can now go to work in a factory operated by Wal-Mart or it's agent in China. Though she will sacrifice her education (for a time - presumably), she can earn a better living than if she stayed in her village and didn't have a Wal-Mart factory to work for.

At the factory, she will work long hours. She will probably not have access to health care or any kind of a safety net. She probably won't be working in the safest environment. And if she complains, she can easily be replaced. You begin to see the dilemma....

It's interesting to me that U.S. and other companies accept and promote work place safety and generally accepted worker conditions at a minimum in their own countries, but given the opportunity to exploit those of a different nation or accept the status-quo (which may stand in stark contrast with the priciples to which they subscribe domestically) they'll take it! This world could easily be a better place if people and organizations would simply, and consistently, do the right thing. Otherwise, what are we other than just one big screwed up hypocracy.

The next time you feel like poo-pooing the Chinese governement for their lack-luster record on human rights, you should probably look in the mirror...we're all, in our own way, perpetuating it - if we're not speaking up against it or doing something to advocate an alternative.