MEDIA REACTION: GOOGLE, HAITI

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIJING 000135 DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EAP/CM, EAP/PA, EAP/PD, C HQ PACOM FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY ADVISOR (J007) SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL ECON SENV KGHG KMDR OPRC CH SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: GOOGLE, HAITI -------------- Editorial Quotes -------------- ¶1. GOOGLE a. "Don't be against the Chinese people's opinion" The official Communist Party international news publication Global Times (Huanqiu Shibao)(01/18)(pg 14): "A poll conducted by the Global Times website revealed that only 20% of netizens support Google's action, while more than 40% don't welcome it. The poll result shows that the majority of the Chinese people hope the Internet can be more open, but they don't support Google forcing China into radical reform. They especially oppose Google, together with the U.S. government, teaching lessons to China. The poll results revealed an unprecedented split and the complicated opinions of the Chinese people, which is worth noting and contemplating. China is undergoing a transformational period. This is an occasion when truly knowing the Chinese people's opinion is very important. The West must seriously consider Chinese people's opinion when dealing with China. We hope that, regarding all discussions about the Google incident, foreign governments and companies can be aware of the importance of knowing the real opinion of the Chinese people. They had better make a sober judgment, not misinterpreting anything and not against the Chinese people's opinions. Doing business in China means that the company must obey China's law and it is the Chinese people who will make decisions about their own issues." b. "The U.S., don't intervene in China's Internet openness" The official Communist Party international news publication Global Times (Huanqiu Shibao)(01/18)(pg 14): "It is normal that a commercial company enters or withdraws from the China market. But the Google incident is different. Its way of giving the Chinese government an ultimatum for a compromise obviously contains political significance. The fact that it also gained the support of the U.S. government, U.S. Congress and Western media shows that the incident is thoroughly politicized. Such political orientation has been imposed by the United States and the West on China. China's attitude to open up to the world is indeed sincere. For China, when compared with what the former Soviet Union and East European nations historically did, it is wiser to insist that the country walk its own path when it is learning from the West. On an important issue like Internet supervision, the Chinese people should develop their own thinking and way of doing things, but not let Google's CEO or the U.S. Department of States decide. Shortly before Google announced its withdrawal from China, Secretary Clinton held a small-scale banquet with the CEOs of Microsoft, twitter, Google and others, which will produce speculation among many people. Looking at its recent measures, one can see that the U.S. government is implementing 'smart power' to reinstall and secure the values of the U.S. It is hoped that a transnational company like Google will not turn into a pure political tool to export American values for the United States." c. "If there is no Google" Guangdong 21st Century Publishing Company Ltd.'s business newspaper 21st Century Business Herald (21Shiji Jingji Baodao)(01/15) (pg 23): "Without Google, the United States' economic process over the past decade may well be a step backwards. Google is not only a search engine but also an ecosystem. It is like China's Alibaba.com and Taobao.com, on which tens of millions of people are interdependent and seek common development. Once they are disappeared, China's tens of millions of small-and-medium sized enterprises and self-employed individuals will face closure, unemployment and bankruptcy. Google is a much larger ecosystem, which has gone beyond sales and become the focal point of information and a ubiquitous Internet portal. Although the day without Google will not be the end of the world, since there are other search engines, when any one of the economic powers lacks sufficient innovation, given the interdependent nature of today's global economy, it leads to more economic insecurity and no country can survive another round of economic crisis." ¶2. HAITI "The United States is afraid of chaos in Haiti" The China Radio International sponsored newspaper World News Journal (Shijie Xinwenbao)(01/19)(pg 16): "The U.S., not only for humanitarian reasons but also for political considerations, is willing to send thousands of soldiers to Haiti for the disaster relief effort. Maintaining stabilities in Haiti meets the U.S.'s interests. The United States has been promoting 'American democracy' in Haiti for nearly a hundred years, during which its policies were not consistent, repeatedly back and forth, and toward the Haiti government specifically not always favorable. In the last BEIJING 00000135 002 OF 002 20 years, Haiti has swayed between a military government and a people-elected government, for which the U.S. had made important military and political interventions. According to experts, Jean-Bertrand Aristide was the Haitian leader supported by the United States, but later discarded in favor of its political interests. Politically speaking, the United States supports whoever is able to maintain the stability of Haiti and dumps whoever is not able to." HUNTSMAN