Cadillac: The Standard Of… The Chinese Communist Party?
Pop quiz: when does an eight-month-old story generate a huge amount of interest? When it’s got political overtones, of course. And what better way to milk the last dregs of bailout resentment than by telling a story that seems too bizarre to be true: Cadillac is a “proud” chief sponsor of a Chinese Communist Party-produced film entitled “The Birth of a Party” (or “The Great Achievement of Founding the Party” depending on the quality of your translator). The story started last September, at ChinaAutoWeb.com, and was recently revivified by the Washington Times, Commentary Magazine, and Big Hollywood. Our main interest in the story has to do with its lessons about the rise of China, that country’s tortured relationship with luxury goods, its foreign (from the American perspective) political economy and Cadillac’s continued need for better momentum in China… but clearly others are more interested in it for different reasons.
The political point seems to be that government money is being funneled to the Chinese Communist Party via General Motors, an accusation that, though shocking, doesn’t hold up well to scrutiny. After all, nearly anyone doing business of any kind in China ultimately supports the political and economic structure created by the Chinese Communist Party, legitimizing it and lining its pockets. And surely nobody is suggesting GM abandon China altogether, thus eliminating its greatest opportunity for growth. Meanwhile, as the Freep helpfully points out, Caddy needs all the help it can get in China: without a single vehicle in the luxury car top-ten, Cadillac needs to be aggressive in marketing to China. Still, from a PR perspective, Cadillac clearly has a line to walk here… perhaps it should look for less visible (and risible) ways of building up guanxi (connections) with the powers that be in the world’s largest market for cars.
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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Ed, small point, but the transliteration for the Chinese word for "connections" or "relationships" is guanxi, not guangxi. Guangxi could be a number of different things, depending on the tones of the two syllables, including the name of a Chinese province.
We pay a billion dollars a day to China in interest. That is more than what we pay out for both wars in the Middle East each year. We are winding down the wars, while our national debt is escalating and our debt doubling within two years, so we could be paying two billion a day to China within a couple of years. That said, there comes a point where we must do what the Chinese want us to do in order to keep our economy upright. If you are offended by what Cadillac has done here, then you better start growing thicker skin when you see how we will be pimped out due to our massive debt in the future. The Chinese government isn't just communist, it is not a place where the freedoms we know even exist. The idea that our economic security is held hostage by this country's government is a concern. The economic boom they are experiencing, we have paid for by moving our manufacturing there. The knowledge they have in bringing 21st Century goods and services to market arrived there in US briefcases. So not only do we owe them trillions, we gave them our ability to earn the funds to pay them back. So why should we be surprised to see Cadillac kissing Communist ass? When you prostitute your future, the paying John wants a kiss now and then.