Google Inc. appears increasingly likely to shutter its Chinese-language search engine, a step that would remove one of the last major foreign players from the world’s most populous and fastest-growing Internet market.

It is rare that a major corporation subordinates its short-term interests for a moral principle. Google will apparently walk away from a 36% share of  China’s internet search/advertising market because it will not bow to censorship.

This event underscores the true nature of China’s ruling Communist Party of China. It is a repressive, oppressive, suppressive and violent organization that is not unlike any mafia.

The fact that Google will not kowtow to Bejing and walk away from the market of greatest potential is to me a commendable act.

China may have liberalized its economy but the Communist Party of China through the People’s Republic of China still rules with a tight oppressive fist. Young Chinese netizens may have access to some information available on the World Wide Web, but China’s rulers do all they can to prevent them from having access to information that is not controlled by the Party.

One must ask about the moral foundations of such a political system. Why would a relatively small group wish to oppress the masses? I am not so cynical to believe that no party members believe they are doing the right thing to help the people. After all the 75 million or so Party members leave room for a wide swath of personalities. But most members are there for one reason: to gain an advantage over their fellow non-member citizens and benefit from the Party’s largess.

China is controlled by a relatively small group of people; about 200 members of the Central Committee hold real power. Of course the Red Army is represented in the Central Committee. These people are China’s royalty and enjoy privileges that come with power. They (i) don’t wish to relinquish power because they like it, (ii) they probably can’t make it on their own absent the Party, and (iii) if they loosen their grip the worker heroes of the People’s Republic of China may just want to kill them.

While its apologists can point to the fact that things in China, economically and politically, are better than before, they miss the point that the ruling class is corrupt, parasitic, and useless. As an example, I urge you to visit the Communist Party of China’s web site to get a flavor of how superfluous they are.  At the end of this article you will see an excerpt from President Hu Jintao’s “Theory of Profound Changes” as a good example of how dynamic their intellectual discourse is.

So, in walks Google and takes on its competitor, Baidu who basically ripped off their business model, and takes over 36% of the market. When they balk at the government’s censorship over their search results, they have the courage to say no. And leave.

Some folks don’t think they should do that:

John Palfrey, a professor at Harvard Law School who studies the Internet, says Google’s China situation has broader relevance for how other technology companies manage their overseas operations. “Because [the Chinese market] is the largest Internet market in the world, it is impossible for a large technology company to ignore,” Mr. Palfrey says. “The outcome of this dispute is going to be enormously important for information technology companies elsewhere in the world operating in China.”

Perhaps if Professor Palfrey had Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s perspective as a former Soviet citizen whose family fled Soviet oppression and racism, he may have felt differently. This isn’t like Coca-Cola leaving an apartheid South Africa, as worthy as that was. China represents a huge market for Google and the loss of this business will hurt its bottom line and future revenues.

Google did the right thing. I will be a loyal fan and supporter of Google. … Continue reading Google: A Moral Company