USA TODAY International Edition
Pence blasts China’s actions in Hong Kong
VP also has harsh words for American companies
WASHINGTON – Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday denounced China’s response to pro- democracy protests in Hong Kong, embracing that cause in the Trump administration’s strongest statement to date and blasting American companies that he said have “embraced ( Chinese) censorship” because of their greed.
“Nothing in the past year has put on display the Chinese Communist Party’s antipathy to liberty so much as the unrest in Hong Kong,” Pence said in a wide- ranging speech on U. S.- China relations.
“Hong Kong is a living example of what can happen when China embraces liberty. And yet, for the last few years, Beijing has increased its interventions in Hong Kong and engaged in actions to curtail the rights and liberties of its people,” Pence said.
Pence took sharp aim at American corporations that he said are acquiescing to Chinese coercion and censorship because of “corporate greed.”
“... Far too many American multinational corporations have kowtowed to the lure of China’s money and markets by muzzling not only criticism of the Chinese Communist Party, but even affirmative expressions of American values,” Pence said.
He pointed to Nike’s decision to remove Houston Rockets merchandise from their stores in China after the Rockets general manager, Daryl Morey, posted a seven- word tweet supporting the Hong Kong protesters: “Fight for Freedom, stand with Hong Kong,” Morey wrote.
Pence was even more severe in describing the NBA’s response to the controversy. “In siding with the Chinese Communist Party and silencing free speech, the NBA is acting like a whollyowned subsidiary of that authoritarian regime,” Pence said.
Pence’s remarks seemed to put him out in front of his own boss: President Donald Trump. Trump has been mostly mum about the democracy movement, and he even posted a congratulatory tweet to Chinese President Xi Jinping marking the country’s 70th anniversary of communist rule. That same day, a pro- democracy protester was shot and at least 180 were arrested amid violent clashes in Hong Kong’s streets.
Trump has urged Xi to “humanely solve the Hong Kong problem,” after initially declining to criticize China for its handling of the protests. In August,
Trump simply called the situation “tough” and “tricky.”
Some foreign policy experts expressed skepticism at Pence’s embrace of the Hong Kong democracy movement, given Trump’s refusal to raise human rights issues with other authoritarian regimes and the president’s harsh attacks on African American athletes who have taken a knee during the national anthem to draw attention to police brutality and racism in the U. S.
“Count me ( in) the skeptical column when it comes to your administrations commitment to democracy and human rights, at home or abroad, Michael McFaul, a former U. S. ambassador to Russia in the Obama administration, tweeted on Thursday.