October 2, 2003

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when China asked Yahoo to sign a pledge to monitor its Chinese language Internet portal for information and content that "might jeopardize state security and disrupt social stability." At that time, Yahoo complied without much fuss, and the Washington Post, the Weekly Standard and Human Rights Watch denounced Yahoo promptly, for caving in.

It is true that China did not pick on Yahoo alone, and asked hundreds of domestic academic institutions and Internet companies to sign a verbose statement, drafted by a Chinese Internet society, and it enumerated their existing responsibilities under Chinese laws. But the impact was chilling; in effect, Yahoo was promising to supervise all Web sites to which its search engine pointed, to block anything that the Chinese authorities might deem anti-national, and to report such content to the authorities.

There are many things China likes to block, including information about HIV-AIDS, the Falun Gong, Tibet, the Tiananmen massacre, international criticism of the Three Gorges Dam, other dissident activities and reports about widespread corruption in China. Beijing was, in effect, asking private companies like Yahoo to do its dirty work of censoring information and conversation. Other search engines -- Google and Alta Vista -- declined to sign the pledge, and China blocked their sites.

China's leaders want the Internet's commercial benefits without the social upheaval that the net's iconoclastic, barrier-busting spirit may spark. China makes such demands because other businesses have acquiesced in the past.

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But Yahoo can't afford to be smug. Principles, be they business or ideological, are worth something only if they are not expendable when the going gets tough. Yahoo kow-towed, instead of standing firm to China. As Mr. Patten observed on leaving Hong Kong in 1997, the main problem with the international community is that it does not treat China as a normal, regular country. If China glares, stare back, he said. If it throws tantrums, ignore it. During his tenure as Hong Kong's governor, Mr. Patten did that, and succeeded in preserving the few political freedoms Britain was able to secure for its former territory under the 1984 Sino-British accord. But too few businesses and political leaders take this advice to heart. Noticing corporate pusillanimity in the face of Chinese firmness, other countries believe they too can bully companies.

Ignoring tantrums and staring back might help. When China tried to clamp down on the commercial use of cryptography, which allows users to conceal their content from anyone performing surveillance in October 1999, various companies and trade agencies worked together to lobby, and the Chinese government relented, dropping the requirement that encryption codes be turned over. "Unity is strength" may sound like a Communist Party propaganda slogan, but for businesses, it makes sense.