Tuesday 16 August 2022

"I strongly oppose that regime, and trade with the Chinese people is my method of opposing the regime."


wut as of today, we should be rooting for China to become a rich country, because in the long run that’s the only way to preserve world peace. [America's] current trade war is giving the hardliners in the Chinese government the upper hand, and sidelining the liberals. (Ditto for Iran, where sanctions have also backfired.) That’s exactly the opposite of what my commenter wants to happen. We tried trade sanctions against Japan in the 1930s, and that did not work.
    "It may feel good to 'take a stand' against evil. But the best way to do so is to engage in mutually beneficial trades with the victims of the evil regime, which means helping the oppressed residents of the country you are trading with. If we had been trading with Cuba over the past 60 years, the Castro regime would likely be gone by now. It’s the average people who suffer when you cut off trade, not the leaders.
    "Now let me answer the commenter’s question: 'How can you support in any way the most murderous, totalitarian empire in world history?'
    "I strongly oppose that regime, and trade with the Chinese people is my method of opposing the regime."

          ~ Scott Sumner, from his post 'Politics is the problem -- trade is the answer'


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