Clash of civilisations

Google/China: The US government wants to make Google’s dispute with China part of the battle for the philosophic high ground in the globalised world. Beijing is willing to see it the same way. The Chinese are increasingly frustrated with what they consider to be America’s moral overreach — an unjustified assumption that it is always right.

The search giant is worried about hacking and government interference in China. The White House has publically backed Google’s threat to leave the country. The motivations are mixed.

US politicians are genuinely concerned about Chinese limitations on free speech and the Chinese threat to the internet infrastructure. They are also well aware that the US runs a big trade deficit with the People’s Republic. Cyber freedom gives the United States a shiny new weapon in negotiating with China.

The Chinese leaders have a different view. They are certainly not about to endorse hacking in public. But like most of their peers around they world, they are prone to consider electronic espionage as a facet of modern statecraft — condemned when others do it but tolerated or even encouraged if it serves the national interest. As for internet freedom, the authorities there believe, along with both Confucians and Marxists, that social order almost always trumps individual freedom. Besides, they see nothing to regret about a Google-free China. State-owned media could grow to fill any voids.

China might soothe the latest tensions with concessions on trade — orders for aircraft and soybeans have sent an emollient political-economic message to Washington in the past.

But such fixes will only be temporary. The ideological gap between the two powers is still wide. As China rises, it will get more assertive and less patient. The failure of the US financial model has added to Beijing’s confidence.

The Americans would do well to focus on hacking, since they will get global support in the fight against Chinese cyber-aggression. Common ground can probably be found on this issue, with or without Google staying in China. But the struggle of world views is just starting.