HIGH PRAISE TO Google for taking a strong stand on human rights and freedom of expression in China. (San Jose Mercury News,"Citing cyber attacks, Google threatens to pull out of China.") China, a good bet to become the world's No. 1 economic superpower by mid-century, is a mighty nation with a proud people and a revered cultural history. It's also the hottest story in the business realm. But the country, of course, has a long history of censorship, and Chinese citizens who disagree loudly and publicly with its policies tend to disappear. This human-rights flashpoint likely will worsen over the years, as the West and East jockey for business and political power.
HOPEFULLY, GOOGLE -- a tech and stock-market powerhouse long criticized for kow-towing to China on the freedom-of-Internet browsing issue -- can forge a pragmatic compromise with Chinese leaders. A generation ago, Western universities, large investors, the U.S. government and companies such as General Motors persuaded South Africa to abandon apartheid. The battle cry then was divestment, the threat to pull assets and investments out of South Africa under a code of corporate conduct called the Sullivan Principles,by the late Rev. Leon Sullivan. Unlike much smaller South Africa, though, superpower China won't heed Western threats of divestment. But perhaps the most influential Western companies can find a middle ground with the Middle Kingdom, allowing more free expression in China in precisely-defined arenas. China legal officials and experts say privately that there are reform-minded jurists on China's high courts who want to gradually liberalize China's legal regime. Let's hope so.
LET'S ALSO HOPE that more Western corporations follow Google's lead and go public with the human-rights issue. Corporations dodge the explosive topic, claiming they're business creatures, not forces for ethical good. That's weak -- as weak as free-market advocates on Wall Street and in Detroit taking government handouts. Several admirable business groups such as BSR (Business for Social Responsibility) have worked for years on CSR-related issues, making human rights a key part of their platforms, and more companies should aggressively do the same. Michael Posner, former executive director of the non-profit Human Rights First, has called CSR "the new rules of the road for the global economy." I call it a corporate morality play for the new century. Economic growth is grand, but not at the cost of our souls. It's time for more companies and executives to make like Google and BSR, and do the right thing. Stand up, Corporate America.
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