It’s time for American capitalists to take a knee for democracy and human rights | Opinion

What does it mean to be an American business in the global economy of the 21st century? What responsibilities does a multinational company incorporated in the United States with a distinct American identity have in a nation whose system of governance is a liberal democracy that guarantees free speech, a free press, an independent judiciary and freedom of assembly?

To what extent must businesses in the free enterprise system of America respect this set of norms and rules that have governed the Western world since governing monarchies were replaced by liberal democracy? How do we enforce a standard that requires companies to refrain from supporting the enemies of the free world?

How should intellectual property brainstormed in American companies thanks to sparks of genius nurtured in America’s schools be regarded? Is it ours to keep and protect or do we just hand it over to whomever America’s multinational corporations choose to partner with? What if those American businesses under the guise of free trade set up shop in autocratic and totalitarian regimes that scoff at the democratic rules of the game? Whether it’s our managerial competence or intellectual property, when is it not for sale or, worse yet, just passed along in the most complex of business deals between an American corporation and a state-operated enterprise in China?

None of these are hypothetical questions. The issues raised in this series of questions are played out daily around the globe. If our next purchase arrives at the door on time or we can find it at the mall, we don’t focus much on how China extends its autocratic tentacles across the globe in challenging a democratic way of life. It scoffs at the principles of democratic government for which American men and women have died as they steal our trade secrets in the marketplace and in the halls of government.

To some extent, American consumers have taken a stand on these issues, but with a far different objective in mind. In various polls, around 40% of Americans say they won’t buy “Made in China” products, even if the stacks of China products on the shelves makes that very difficult. “It’s time to bring manufacturing jobs back to America”, they say, an important goal, but hardly the only reason to be concerned about the extent to which America hands off its managerial competence and intellectual property to the enemies of democracy.

A far more alarming concern is the threat to national security over industrial espionage and cybertheft. Scholars of the global assault on democracy like Stanford’s Larry Diamond zero in on what he calls China’s Stealth Initiative. Its goal is technological superiority as it turns the U.S. warning of “Made in China” on its head and proclaims “Made in China 2025” as the means to its goal of global dominance in technology. Apple’s operations in China assembling iPhones offers a good example of how China ramps up its own cyberexpertise with such valuable intellectual property close at hand.

Given how American companies have either surrendered intellectual property or done so unwittingly in establishing their corporate footprint in the enemy nations of democracy, a moniker more accurately depicting China’s tactics is not “Made in China“ but “Stolen in China.”

Recently, a Financial Times report focused on Apple to see how this works. Apple sends its manufacturing design engineers to China where they are embedded into suppliers’ facilities. Forget Chinese espionage. Apple offers up its expertise on a cyber plate for Chinese tech to adopt. Here’s how Kevin O’Marah, a supply chain researcher, put it: “All the tech competence China has now is not the product of Chinese tech leadership drawing in Apple, it’s the product of Apple going in there and building the tech competence.”

Theft or the purposeful conveyance of intellectual property is not the only concern about China’s growing tech footprint. The most basic concern human rights advocates have regarding China is the repression of its citizens like its Uyghur Muslims who have suffered by mass detention, torture, mass surveillance and cultural and religious persecution.

The obvious place to look for how companies born and bred in the U.S. react to such practices is right at the top. That would be Apple’s CEO,Tim Cook. What Cook has to say seems to be determined by what side of the Pacific he’s standing when he speaks. He crowed about President Biden’s CHIPS act and how Apple will build in Arizona a “Made in America” product, but, apparently, he has no qualms about doing business with human rights abusers.

On a recent China trip, when asked recently by Fox News if he supported the right to protest in China and if he would comment on factory workers beaten by authorities, there was stone silence. Apple also recently restricted the use of AirDrop which has been used by protestors in China to share information outside the boundaries of Internet control. Cook was asked if he regretted the move and, once again, no comment.

Today, more than ever before in our history, as global companies gloss over the differences between democracy and autocracy, we find ourselves “betwixt and between.” In language more of our time, we seem to be neither one thing nor the other. We pledge allegiance to the United States of America and disparage football players who take a knee during the national anthem in objection to racial injustice. Yet, we pay scant attention to corporate Americans who seem to ignore that same flag and what it stands for as they submit to the demands of autocratic governments who repress their citizens. The corporate playbook focuses only on the bottom line and the quarterly earnings report.

These days we aim most of our concern about the future of democracy and the ascendance of autocracy at the increasing ranks of the Republican Party who seem to have given up on the rules of democracy when it does not suit their interests. But we cannot ignore how American corporations prop up autocratic governments around the world with little thought as to how inconsistent that is with democratic beliefs and values Americans have fought and died to protect.

It may be asking too much for Apple users to switch gears to another phone manufacturer. (Samsung pulled its phone assembly out of China.)

But it’s not asking too much to let Idaho’s elected officials in Washington know how strongly we feel about American businesses who hand over expertise to nations who repress, imprison and surveil their citizens.

Bob Kustra served as president of Boise State University from 2003 to 2018. He is host of Readers Corner on Boise State Public Radio and is a regular columnist for the Idaho Statesman. He served two terms as Illinois lieutenant governor and 10 years as a state legislator.