![]() ![]() Even seemingly simple words-like “corruption”-can dramatically change their meanings over time. Historians are in the business of trying to understand and explain the past on its own terms, and reading it backwards through the prism of contemporary concerns is a surefire way of distorting it. Like all historical analogies, however, this one demands close scrutiny. financial ties today seem to echo those surrounding British investment in the 19 th-century United States. ![]() As a whole, these and other charges of corruption surrounding Sino-U.S. A Chinese billionaire, a Dominican ambassador to the United Nations, and an Antiguan president of the UN General Assembly have been arrested on bribery charges connected to business ventures in China and abroad. So too is Sheldon Adelson, the owner of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation and prominent Republican donor, for bribing Chinese officials to approve his company’s operations. Currently, JP Morgan’s “Sons and Daughters” program in China-a special hiring track for the children of China’s elites-is under investigation by the FBI and SEC for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. 1 In the too-good-to-make-up category, China is pouring so much money into Louisiana that al-Jazeera has dubbed it “China’s Louisiana Purchase” (the original Louisiana Purchase was financed by the British). A recent and much-cited report by the Rhodium Group, an economic analysis firm, begins by framing contemporary Chinese investment in the historical context of previous foreign investment in the United States. The parallels to Chinese investment in the United States today seem almost irresistible. Throughout the 19 th century, many Americans regarded British foreign investment as a corrupting influence on their exceptional republican virtue. ![]()
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