[macspoofing]

>The firewall is a fickle, cantankerous beast that, to me, is really at heart of this matter.

The Great Firewall is only one aspect of the problem. Most companies would we willing to host their service within the firewall and deal with it that way. The problem is that running a service within the firewall requires going through the Chinese bureaucracy that is inherently hostile to foreign companies and internet companies.

[jasonjei]

I remember reading this comment awhile back when China shut the door on Uber: "They open the door, allow foreign companies to enter and train locals in the technology and then slam the door when they gain traction."

Google executives long suspected China of using local regulations and the GFW to show favoritism to local companies:

"[T]he Chinese government against Google seemed less to do with regulations and more like harassment. The sanctions appeared directly tied to how well Google was doing [...] Google executives believed that [...] when [its] market share approached 30%, suddenly bad things would happen. In China, companies need a license to run a website, and it took Google massive effort to secure one. [...] Google’s executives in China realized they were always one step away from another sanction."

I think this is exactly what the GFW is for. Train/show local talent a great concept, create/replicate homegrown version, cut off foreign version when homegrown version is ready.

At some point, China needs to be concerned if it's pissing off foreign companies. If they want American users, the door has to open both ways.

[system16]

By the looks of it, it doesn't need to be open both ways at all. Like the article states, Chinese companies like Musical.ly have the chance to access and profit from the US market without US government intervention. US/foreign companies don't have that luxury in China, or they do for just long enough for a local variant to gain traction and then they're booted out.

Why the US puts up with this blatant WTO violation is baffling.

[ting_bu_dung]

This is the last year where China will be viewed as market economy. After end of this year, they'll face tariffs and barriers to their trade due to the fact that China has not followed most of the requirements to stay in WTO. EU and US have already refused to automatically extend WTO acceptance for China. Watch for Chinese economy collapse after that.

[jasonjei]

But what is the solution? Does the US build its own GFW to "protect" its own Internet? If a Chinese company wants to build a service that Americans can use, aside from blocking credit card payments for those services, the US would have to build its own GFW.

[system16]

I don't think that's the answer. Maybe sanctions or other disincentives that would encourage China to play by the rules? When China joined the WTO they made a commitment that they are blatantly disregarding. What we have now is not an even playing field, and if it continues to go unchecked the US will continue to lose this game.

[Bromlife]

Blocking credit card transactions would be enough of a deterrent.

[drfritznunkie]

You're missing the point. Even if you go through the entire process, get all the licenses, find excellent local partners, setup your infrastructure correctly, and only publish what the Party wants, you STILL have to go through the firewall. There are no exceptions, and your business suffers because you cannot do simple everyday things like having a conference call with your BJS office, or copying an image up to your CN servers.

Yes, the pain of doing business in China is great and asymmetric, but in some fashion, I'm happy that at least the firewall is a symmetric, universal problem.

[fungi]

getting a license is not hard or hostile.

the fact that you have to do _anything_ is a problem... also dealing with mainland providers can be challenging.