Do We Have A Choice?
Confucius’ disciple asked him about the essence of good government and the Master replied, “The requisites of government are that there be a sufficiency of food, enough military equipment, and the confidence of the people in their ruler.”
The disciple asked: “If it were necessary to dispense with one of these, which of the three should be done without?” Confucius answered: “The military equipment.”
He asked again, “If it were necessary to dispense with one of the remaining two, which one should be foregone?”
“Part with the food. Death has always been the lot of men; but if the people have no faith in their rulers, then the state cannot exist.”
How honest are the Chinese? Do they trust each other as much Americans? Do they have as much faith in their government as we have in ours? Should we trust them?
A Bad Rep
Eager to call the kettle black, our government calls the Chinese untrustworthy: “Never listen to a word they say”. Since our media rarely publish anything their Government says, its hard to know if they’re telling the truth.
But, thanks to pollsters like Gallup, YouGov, and Edelman, we can compare Chinese words to Chinese deeds and American words to American deeds. Let’s see how they stack up.
Do you Trust Each Other?
Societies with higher interpersonal trust have lower interpersonal market friction, and higher quality of life. Regardless of who asks the question, year after year, Chinese say they trust each other more than we trust our fellows. The reason is not far to find.
They’ve been singing from the Confucian hymnal for 2,000 years while we find it hard to agree on anything. We don’t have a shared moral position like they do.
Confucius, far from being a ‘philosopher,’ was a political scientist, whose Analects are a blueprint for a society that they are building as we speak. Eliminating poverty and attaining 98% home ownership, as they did in 2021, is straight out of the Confucian hymnal, “Only when the granary is full can virtuous behavior be expected”. First handle everyone’s food and shelter then demand they relinquish crime.
How Much Virtue?
Crime sometimes pays, but always costs in devastated lives, fearful citizens, costly incarceration and rehabilitation, and social unease.
As with their Covid policy, China prefers prevention to cure. So their six year-olds can play in the streets ‘til its dark and teenage daughters can walk home tipsy at midnight. Imagine what that would do to our national psyche.
Do you Trust Your Media?
Singapore and Beijing have similar rules for their media: “Tell both sides of every story honestly, and don’t sensationalize or sexualize it”. They have a more balanced picture of the world and know far more about how our country wrorks than we know about theirs, as the failure of the current tariff policy illustrates.
How Much do you Trust Your Government?
Re-read the introductory quote, above. How different would our lives be if our government kept its promises. Theirs publishes all its promises and keeps them all. What a concept! (And their stats–despite what our media claim–are solid).
Can We Trust Them?
Can we trust them not to steal our stuff and keep their agreements?
Opponents of China’s membership in the WTO warned that they would discriminate against our industrial products but, says the US Trade Representative, “there is no evidence that these practices have become a major constraint to trade in the affected categories” (USTR 2004). China is “in full compliance with its WTO commitments on trading rights for all Chinese- foreign joint ventures, wholly foreign-owned enterprises, and foreign individuals” (USTR 2005: 75). And eliminated all barriers to manufactured American goods well ahead of WTO deadlines. Of 349 WTO trade disputes, China was a defendant in 44, fewer than the 52 brought against the EU and the 99 against the US.
Though politicians accuse China of stealing stuff, evidence is scarce. According to court records, “Defendants of Chinese heritage were charged on average with more counts in their indictments under the Economic Espionage Act, but their cases were more likely to be dismissed at trial or acquitted by jury, and they were convicted on fewer counts”. Records also show that ethnic Chinese steal 90% fewer secrets from American firms than Americans steal from American firms, and none has ever had significant national security implications. Nor did China’s WTO accession affect US employment in manufacturing.
The Trust Deficit
Ask any Chinese if their neighbors and government deal with them honestly and most say ‘yes’. Ask 193 members of the United Nations and most will say ‘yes’ too.
We need to raise our trust game.
