""socialist distancing" is when you pretend to be a capitalist country but your factories are state-owned enterprises in a communist country. where US minimum wage, worker safety, and environmental laws do not apply. it matters a great deal where the factories are. as we have seen in wars, plagues, disasters, and economic crashes. in good times you can create wealth by pushing buttons and signing pieces of paper. but when things go wrong and you need actual physical stuff, you can't get it when it's on the other side of the world."
Specialization and trade is mutually beneficial. Both Californians and Minnesotans benefit because the citizens of each state can exchange California avocados for Minnesota cheese. And the more such trading ties that exist, the more resilient an economy becomes to local shocks like drought, tornadoes, civil unrest, etc. For example, if CA avocado farmers have a bad year, Minnesotans can switch to Brazilian or African avocado suppliers.
The same is true of trades between the US and China. If such trades weren't mutually beneficial, they wouldn't happen. (There are some exceptions, such as goods produced by prison labor. However, most Chinese workers are not prisoners.)
In addition, because the Chinese and US economy are heavily intertwined, rich, powerful people on both sides have strong incentives to tamp down on the drums of war. Absent those ties, the leadership would have much less incentive to care whether the people on the other side live or die.
Yes, Chinese people have historically been willing to tolerate greater pollution and harsher working conditions than US citizens. That's because poor people are willing to tolerate more risk / discomfort for greater wealth. US citizens made the same trade offs when the US was at a similar level of development.
As people become wealthier though, and starvation and freezing to death become less salient risks, people move up Maslow's hierarchy. They start demanding cleaner water, cleaner air. Demand for cleaner air and water is why China plans to build many new nuclear plants and no longer accepts US garbage barges. Such improvements will increase, as Chinese wealth increases.
Therefore, if we want to accelerate China's transition to cleaner technology, if we want to reduce the risk of war, we should drop barriers to trade even more.
Specialization and trade is mutually beneficial. Both Californians and Minnesotans benefit because the citizens of each state can exchange California avocados for Minnesota cheese. And the more such trading ties that exist, the more resilient an economy becomes to local shocks like drought, tornadoes, civil unrest, etc. For example, if CA avocado farmers have a bad year, Minnesotans can switch to Brazilian or African avocado suppliers.
The same is true of trades between the US and China. If such trades weren't mutually beneficial, they wouldn't happen. (There are some exceptions, such as goods produced by prison labor. However, most Chinese workers are not prisoners.)
In addition, because the Chinese and US economy are heavily intertwined, rich, powerful people on both sides have strong incentives to tamp down on the drums of war. Absent those ties, the leadership would have much less incentive to care whether the people on the other side live or die.
Yes, Chinese people have historically been willing to tolerate greater pollution and harsher working conditions than US citizens. That's because poor people are willing to tolerate more risk / discomfort for greater wealth. US citizens made the same trade offs when the US was at a similar level of development.
As people become wealthier though, and starvation and freezing to death become less salient risks, people move up Maslow's hierarchy. They start demanding cleaner water, cleaner air. Demand for cleaner air and water is why China plans to build many new nuclear plants and no longer accepts US garbage barges. Such improvements will increase, as Chinese wealth increases.
Therefore, if we want to accelerate China's transition to cleaner technology, if we want to reduce the risk of war, we should drop barriers to trade even more.