A little over a year ago, the University of Wisconsin-Madison opened up a new office in Shanghai to help further its reputation and to establish more research and business associations. To help open up the office in Shanghai, which is officially called the “UW-Madison Shanghai Innovation Office,” Chancellor David Ward joined with a delegation that included local Chinese officials and Wisconsin business representatives; some of these included the representatives of major multinational corporations such as Promega and Abbott Labs. A few months ago, Abbott Labs pleaded guilty to knowingly selling inappropriate and subsequently harmful medication to elderly people in the U.S.; they are also paying a mammoth $1.6 billion fine.
The Chinese venture, while marketed and advertised by the university as benevolent outreach to Chinese educational institutes, is really meant to help generate money. This is not necessarily bad. One of the first actions taken to build a relationship between UW-Madison and China was the Babcock Institute signing a letter of cooperation with the Shanghai Dairy Group to provide equipment, technology and guidance.
This is a win-win situation for everyone as everyone benefits, while at the same time the Chinese people will be able to get more milk products they need and the university will make money. This is something I absolutely support.
Where my concern comes from is that we are working with Chinese government officials as our relationship grows. After all, this is the same Chinese government that engenders such a high level of corruption that even its own autocratic system believes that corruption is a major threat to the country. On top of this, multinational corporations love to advertise the image that they are cleaning up China, when the reality is China is on the verge of an environmental catastrophe.
One of my family members who frequently travels to China for business recently made this fact clear to me and ultimately drove me to write this article. He is a pretty conservative businessman, which is why I was struck by his tone and demeanor when he told me about how common it was for businesses to pour industrial waste, in his example paints, down municipal water supplies and think nothing of it.
Who is going to stop the blatant dumping of contaminants when Chinese officials are so deep in the hands of unlimited corporate investment?
Let me make this clear: the university is not conspiring to do harm and pollute China. However, how can students be certain that other corporations and officials who are out to make money—not to benevolently help the Chinese people—are not cutting corners to spike their own profits as China’s toxic cohesion between official corruption, authoritarianism and industrial belligerence is actively oppressing the Chinese people?
One way to do that is to simply be as transparent as possible, by providing updates on any business negotiations and tracking the flow of money. Again, working with China is not bad, but in the wake of UW-Madison’s poor labor choices, for example adidas and Nike, it is never bad to have more transparency in business. I love this university and would hate to see its name and image inadvertently tied to some kind of malfeasance. After all, just a few years ago, Shanghai’s party boss was imprisoned for embellishing hundreds of millions in pension funds.
In the end, I guess what bothers me the most is to see such a happy image slapped on this relationship, when just two decades ago the Chinese government was actively murdering pro-democracy protesters at Tiananmen Square and supports governments that murder pro-democracy protesters, such as Iran and Syria. I can only imagine the horror as kids my own age are being murdered all around me, simply for having a different view of government. I just want to know that the money and relationships being forged aren’t benefitting people who are part of the problem.
Do you think China’s social and political issues should affect university policy? Send any feedback or questions for Matt to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
