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zdragnarlast Monday at 12:29 PM2 repliesview on HN

Western politicians did it to us. China was allowed into the WTO but never held to any of the rules.

It is still treated with kid gloves by governments as if it were a developing country despite the fact that it hasn't needed such treatment for decades.


Replies

avianlyriclast Monday at 12:43 PM

That’s an over simplified view of the world that completely ignores all the benefits of outsourcing our manufacturing to China brought. It may have been short sighted of us, and we may have over valued those short term benefits, over the long term costs, but it wasn’t a decision made by some shadowy group of “politicians”. It was a collective societal decision, to choose easy consumerism, cheap products, and rapid growth in quality of life, over the long term viability of societies.

But this story hasn’t ended yet, and China certainly isn’t treated like a developing country. It’s treated like a country that has a vice grip on our economic nether regions, and we really don’t want to make any sudden unexpected moves.

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MangoToupelast Monday at 11:20 PM

The WTO never did much to benefit anyone but capital anyway; I say China is humanity's champion here.