Zuckerberg's Love Affair With Xi Jinping
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has recently stirred up controversy by advising his employees to read Chinese President Xi Jinpings bookThe Governance of China,because he wants them tounderstand socialism with Chinese characteristics. The book appeared prominently placed on his desk during a recent visit from Chinas Internet czar Lu Wei, and he apparently has bought a number of copies to share with others. (To be clearand I am assuming Mr. Zuckerberg realizes thisXis book is not a book that he, himself, wrote; it is a collection of his speeches and interviews.) For the free publicity he is providing the Chinese leader, Zuckerberg has been widely condemned on the Chinese Internet. Given Zuckerbergs position as the CEO of one of Americas leading technology firms, it is worth exploring whether such criticism is deserved.
First, is Zuckerberg sucking up to Beijing? Clearly the answer is yes. Like many U.S. business leaders, hewants access to the Chinese market for Facebook, which he currently does not have: itis banned in China. So, Zuckerberghas undertaken a charm offensive of sorts:speaking Chineseto a group of students at Tsinghua University; telling his employees to read Xis book; and, most recently, hosting Lu Weiwho may be doing more to stifle Internet freedom than anyone in Chinaat his Facebook offices in Silicon Valley. This is little more than what countless American CEOs have done over the past decadesunappealing perhaps in its sycophancy, but basically the price of doing business in China. Every CEO has to decide for him/herself how deeply to kowtow.
Second, does Zuckerberg support the ideals that Xi espouses in his book? There is no evidence that this is the caseunless one wants to refer back to Facebooks fairly serious problems with invading peoples privacyby tracking their online activity,making public peoples personal information orsharing peoples purchasing habitswith their friends. Zuckerberg has made no explicit reference to anything in Xis book, and it is not clear that anything in the book particularly resonated with him. He has merely told people to read the book to understand socialism with Chinese characteristics. (Frankly, I dont think that people who read the book will come away with an understanding of socialism with Chinese characteristicsit is an ever moving target of political opportunismbut it is worth a try.)
As far as I can discern, Zuckerberg has merely suggested that people in the United States should know what the leader of China is thinking and where he plans to take the country. I agree with him. Xi is president of one of the worlds largest and most powerful countries, and his vision for his countrys future issquarely at odds with many U.S. interests. Arguably, there is no other foreign leadersave perhaps North Koreas Kim Jong-un or Russias Vladimir Putinwhose views Americans should better understand. I dont think that it is necessary that everyone read the whole bookit runs 500fairly tedious pages; most people can get the gist from reading a few well-chosen speeches from the volume.
For Americans interested in reading the book, theBeijing Reviewmagazine has been sending emails out to people offering complimentary copies. They can be reached at beijingreviewusa@gmail.com. Otherwise, you can read ahumorous takeI posted a few months back or thenot-so-humorous bastardized versionXinhua news agency translated and published (without my permission) last week. Either way, understanding the future of China under Xi Jinping is worth a few minutes of every Americans time.
This article originally appeared on the Council on Foreign Relations Asia Unbound blog and can be foundhere.
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Zuckerberg's Love Affair With Xi Jinping