Forcing the Chinese to live up to Western expectations, when the West can’t decide what it wants

Thanks to China Esquire and Silicon Hutong for showing we’re not the only ones who’ve been thinking this. While many have no hesitation in criticizing Chinese business ethics, few are willing to admit that the West is not much better. Whatever pretensions to moral superiority Westerners may have had in the past are becoming more and more ridiculous in light of today’s corporate and social cultures.

Quoting Fareed Zakaria, our bloggers highlight the trend in recent corporate history:

“Most of what happened over the past decade across the world was legal. Bankers did what they were allowed to do under the law. Politicians did what they thought the system asked of them. Bureaucrats were not exchanging cash for favors. But very few people acted responsibly, honorably or nobly (the very word sounds odd today).”

I agree. The fact that America and Europe have long-ceased to operate out of morality and personal conscience is glaringly obvious to developing nations around the world. Many Chinese leaders have marvelled to me at the inconsistency of foreign businessmen, who demand a certain code of behavior while demonstrating motivations and intent that blatantly contradict the professed ethic. This double standard destroys foreign credibility, as high-lighted by David Wolf:

“And that means that any American who excoriates corruption in China will be dismissed as a hypocrite; any foreigner who tries to explain to a factory owner why it is better to make products safer will be held to a higher burden of proof; and any executive trying to preach the importance of integrity and ethics to a recent recruit will face annoyed skepticism.”

Thomas Chow elaborates on the heart of the issue:

“I don’t think it’s an issue of ethics (which are situational) per se. Instead, I think it’s an issue of values/morality, which is more about absolutes and principles… I believe that you cannot have a truly effective government, institution, etc. that will be sustainable for the long haul without values. Otherwise, it will fall apart, one way or another.”

It would seem, therefore, that both China and the West are at a critical juncture. Modern China is still trying to develop a moral framework, and Europe and America have generally rejected their religious traditions. Consequently, both systems are operating without any prevailing moral codes, and unless this need is addressed, sustainable growth will be limited, if not impossible.

“This might sound like a small point, but it is not. No system—capitalism, socialism, whatever—can work without a sense of ethics and values at its core. No matter what reforms we put in place, without common sense, judgment and an ethical standard, they will prove inadequate. We will never know where the next bubble will form, what the next innovations will look like and where excesses will build up. But we can ask that people steer themselves and their institutions with a greater reliance on a moral compass.”

Yes, we can ask.