Blog post 7

Should the US government support or work against the great firewall of China? While there are many arguments in favor of the US working to tear down the firewall, I will bring up a few disadvantages to them working against the Chinese government. Helping take down the firewall is very costly which could really hurt the US’s already weak economy. Too much intervention by the US could hurt American companies and give China even less control. It is easy to see why the US should intervene with China but I will bring up a few reasons why they shouldn’t.

The US is already spending money too help end Chinese censorship. Jessica Droste Yagan, a master in public administration candidate from Harvard states, “Since 2003, the International Broadcasting Bureau for Counter-Censorship Technology has received more than $2 million in funding from the U.S. government to promote the development of counter- censorship software (13).” If the US government gets more involved it will have to spend more money. This could be extremely hurtful to America because the US is already in a recession. How would the US government find ways to pay for more involvement in China? Some may say that the US needs to work on the problems of its own country before it can help another.

Intervention could be harmful to US companies and may give the people of China even less freedom than they already have. Yagan brings up a common criticism of US intervention, “Critics charge that the bill will not increase the openness of the Internet in China but will penalize U.S. companies by forcing them to choose between U.S. law and Chinese law and withdrawing from China entirely (15).” If American companies do leave China it will give the Chinese government even more power. China’s internet would be completely run by Chinese companies and therefore there would be even more censorship. Not to mention that fact that the US companies would lose money because they would have fewer people using their product. Censorship could cause American companies to make less money and the Chinese government to have even more control.

It is easy to argue for US intervention with China but there may be costly after math. The US government has to think about the well being of it’s own people before it can worry about another country’s people. The US needs to find ways not to spend money instead of ways to spend money. Also it may be difficult to find a way for the US government to intervene without hurting both countries more. While it seems like a no brainer that the US should definitely come to China’s aid there may be some serious drawbacks from them doing so.

Citation: Yagan, Jessica Droste. 2006. “Working Around the Great Firewall of China: Recommendations for U.S. Internet Companies.” Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative Student Paper No. 2. Cambridge, MA: John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.