I took History of The Far East in college decades ago. The cultural friction between China and the West substantially precedes the current government of the country.

Regardless of what is going on there politically currently, they are a growing economic power. That makes them the proverbial 800 pound gorilla that people are increasingly afraid of pissing off for fear of financial consequences. They have one seventh of the world's population. It's a huge market that simply cannot be ignored.

>It's a huge market that simply cannot be ignored.

True, if your motive is profit above all else.

Otherwise, it is quite simple to ignore China's demands. Create the products, services, etc. that you want to create. If people in China buy them, fine. If China says they'll buy them if only you do Thing X, if you do not morally agree with Thing X, simply do not do it.

There are near limitless numbers of businesses that are economically viable without catering to China's demands.

Well, I don't know where communication went wrong, but I'm not talking about catering to China's demands. My original point was that this whole thing could have negatively impacted the company regardless of how they chose to act. I stated as clearly as I know how that it's probably a case of "caught in the crossfire" and blamed for being shot when the only way to escape the crossfire entirely would be "you shouldn't have been born in that time and place as it wasn't safe."

You can be a peacenik conscientious objector who refuses to take sides in the war and still get caught in the crossfire while minding your own business and trying your hardest to stay out of the fray.

People that try to pin this as a cultural difference only need to look at Taiwan, which is a functioning democracy, and equally as Chinese.