How to win Hong Kong’s freedom

One of the Cold War’s most indelible moments occurred when Ronald Reagan, standing in front of Germany’s Brandenburg Gate, declared, for all the world to hear: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” Ironically, those famous words were almost never uttered, since top advisers removed them from the speech. Yet President Reagan, demonstrating his unparalleled gut instinct, delivered that iconic phrase anyway.

Those hallowed words became a rallying cry for freedom fighters around the world, and the rest is history.

Donald Trump faces a similar threat to world freedom: an up-and-coming China hellbent on dominating the planet by imposing its will, by whatever means necessary.

That aggressiveness is frontand-center in Hong Kong. In blatant violation of the treaty it signed, the People’s Republic (a contradiction if ever there was one) is threatening the freedom of all Hong Kong citizens. This is a pivotal moment in world history.

The United States can either leave its allies to face China’s crushing hammer alone, or it can show its mettle by standing tall and meeting its foe headon.

There has never been a better opportunity for Mr. Trump to showcase his “Art of the Deal” credentials. If he plays his cards right, he can achieve the rarefied status of embodying that famous Chinese proverb: “the greatest conqueror is he who overcomes the enemy without a blow.”

Indisputably, Donald Trump’s tariffs have China on its heels. Sure, there are the whiners in America complaining that tariffs are hurting them, but honestly – so what? China has been gouging Americans with its immensely favorable trade deals for far too long, and it finally took someone with guts to buck the decades-old go-along, getalong system.

Some presidential advisers are counseling Mr. Trump to keep tariffs and the Hong Kong crisis separate. They are wrong.

Now is the time to irrevocably tie them together.

First, it’s the right thing to do. And second, demanding economic concessions from China is the only way to “keep it honest” and ensure it honors its commitments.

So here’s what Mr. Trump could do in leveraging his economic advantages:

• Demand that China abide by all tenets of the 1997 agreement – starting with its removal from Hong Kong’s affairs, and halting its mass emigration of Chinese nationals. The ploy of inundating Hong Kong with Beijing loyalists as a way to staff government and stack future election results is fooling no one.

• Threaten to revoke China’s coveted Most Favored Nation trading status. Likewise, if China follows through on its threat to crush protesters with “an iron fist,” the president can revoke Hong Kong’s special trade status exempting it from restrictions and tariffs – which would also hurt China.

• Demand the release of protest leaders whom China maliciously labeled “terrorists” and had arrested.

• Enact a new American trade policy where human rights come first. Sovereign nations can do as they please, but they defy the largest economy on Earth —America —at their own peril.

• Engender the support of the world’s democracies, especially India, to pressure China to back away from Hong Kong. China craves recognition, but should only receive it when actions overtake its empty promises.

And the U.S. should penalize all nations that break ranks and sell out to China.

We are not entitled to cheap Chinese goods that make us fat, stupid and lazy – the profits of which are used to build weapons aimed at America.

Donald Trump stands at one of history’s most monumental crossroads, wielding the unique means to lift millions out of virtual slavery.

Hopefully, the president will choose to conquer totalitarianism by supporting the intrepid fighters of Hong Kong, who, like our Founding Fathers, are sacrificing everything – including their lives – in the quest for that most innate of human rights: freedom.

As JFK said, “We do these things not because they are easy … but because they are hard.”

Freedom IS hard, but the alternative is unthinkable.