China and the US Agree on Free Trade
August 13, 2009
It seems that their meetings are going well, where the United States and China are both agreeing to free trade. They both feel that free and unobstructed trade are the most important things they can do for themselves and for other countries. They have been meeting in what they are calling the Strategic and Economic Dialogue with officials from both countries of equal status attending.
They made a joint announcement where they said that they have found that honoring their international commitments are in their best interests as well as those of the other countries. However, there has been no talk of the fact that both countries are still blocking online gambling which is part of the trade industry. Both countries have done everything in their power to keep online gambling illegal and many are wondering how they can be so hypocritical.
China has passed laws that not only make online gambling illegal, but it also ensures that every computer that is sold to a resident of the country is set with a program that makes online gambling impossible to access. It blocks their ability to even look at online gambling sites. Of course the US said that they have a problem with that kind of censorship – but who is the pot and who is the kettle here?
The US has the UIGEA, which doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon, and yet they are commenting that China should allow online gambling? If they are so in support of online gambling then why wouldn’t they get rid of the UIGEA? However, they are not concerned so much with the blocking of online gambling as they are that they could then change their minds and block anything they want at any time. After all, deciding what people do in the privacy of their own homes is just wrong.
