Yahoo settles lawsuit over jailed Chinese journalists

Yahoo got absolutely lambasted in Congress last week for its role in helping the Chinese government arrest and imprison Chinese journalists. “While technologically and financially you are giants, morally you are pygmies,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman, and holocaust survivor Tom Lantos, D-Calif., said in an angry statement at that hearing.

The case involved Shi Tao who was jailed for allegedly providing state secrets to foreigners after he sent an e-mail that contained notes about government media restrictions, and Wang Xiaoning who was arrested in 2002 in connection with anonymous e-mails and other political writings he posted online. Both journalists were arrested after Yahoo turned over information about their online activities and both were given harsh 10 year prison terms. Family members of Shi and Wang in April sued Yahoo and the Chinese company Alibaba.com, which took over Yahoo’s mainland China operations in 2005.

In a dramatic moment during the hearing, Yahoo Chief executive Jerry Yang and General Counsel Michael Callahaner were prompted to apologize to Shi’s mother, who was sitting behind them, and both turned to her and bowed deeply. “After meeting with the families, it was clear to me what we had to do to make this right for them, for Yahoo and for the future,” Yang said later in a statement. “We are committed to making sure our actions match our values around the world.” Yang also said the company also was establishing a “human rights fund to provide humanitarian and legal aid to dissidents who have been imprisoned for expressing their views online.”

Let’s hope that is sincere- it sounds like it is. Yahoo was born here in California- and while we wish them great success in all their foreign ventures, we hope they don’t forget that they are an American company Now it is up to the Chinese authorities to release Shi Tao and Wang Xiaoning, and anyone else who has been jailed on such ridiculous charges. This will be a thorn in U.S. China relations, and an unnecessary one that alienates the very people likely to be most friendly towards China.