The 40 million personal computers sold in China last year, many of them in the hands of once-isolated people, will do more to liberalize that nation than any government sanction or well-intentioned protest we could concoct. When, after all, has any policy of isolation or trade restriction helped spread democracy or undermine tyranny?

It won't surprise onlookers that around the 20th anniversary of the military crackdown in Tiananmen Square, Internet users across China had problems accessing popular networking sites, such as Twitter, MySpace, Hotmail, Yahoo and many others.

In areas all across China, these sites allow people to interact, exchange ideas and grievances, plan political opposition or simply discuss frowned-upon topics. Across China, users openly complained and speculated about the reasons for the shutdown, which in itself is a sign of growing independence.

To combat this kind of Internet liberty, China's government utilizes more than 30,000 censors. It deploys unknown thousands of true believers, who troll Web sites and affix positive and fawning comments about the Communist Party on message boards and Internet discussions.

The more computers China has the more censors they'll need. The more computers the Chinese use the more difficult it will be to control the flow of information.

One would hope that American companies engage the Chinese government and do all they can to protest and avoid policies that undermine fundamental American values, such as freedom of speech, abroad. If their consciences won't let them do business in China … oh, whom am I kidding?

Selling the 298 million Internet users in China sub-par American computers is the best way to advance our values. Even better, we won't have to "impose" a thing.