30 years ago, hundreds of thousands gathered in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in support of democratic reform. After the failure of the Cultural Revolution and exposure to Western values, the Chinese people craved greater freedom. However, their call for liberty was quickly silenced. The People’s Liberation Army slaughtered an estimated 10,000 protesters. The government silenced journalists, arrested demonstrators and erased the atrocity from their history books and the internet.
Now, hundreds of thousands flood the streets of Hong Kong demanding it remain democratic. According to Amnesty International, the Hong Kong Police Force utilized “reckless and indiscriminate tactics” to quell protests. While a proposed extradition bill sparked the 2019 Hong Kong protests, the issues that motivate demonstrators are much more deeply rooted.
When the United Kingdom ceded control of Hong Kong in 1997, the National People’s Congress of China replaced British laws with a constitution called Basic Law, which guaranteed 50 years of independent legislation, capitalism and a Western lifestyle. China has encroached upon the rights guaranteed by Basic Law in recent years.
Hongkongers are eager to protect their slice of freedom from an increasingly oppressive government. Xi Jinping has tightened his authoritarian grip on the PRC, eliminated term limits, expanded the military and broadened the influence of the Communist Party within China. He has undermined the basic liberties of Chinese people by increasing internet censorship and eliminating potential political rivals in his “crackdown on corruption.” He has incarcerated and tortured an estimated 1 million Muslims in “reeducation camps.” According to a report from the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, the camps “may be the largest incarceration of an ethnic minority population since World War II, and that it may constitute crimes against humanity.” How can we as Americans, the crusaders of freedom and goodwill, stand idly by while another Holocaust takes place?
It is a complete regression in a global campaign for human rights. What’s worse is that American companies are complicit in the creation of a corrupt and immoral government.
On Oct. 4, Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey tweeted his support for the Hong Kong protests. Fearing Chinese backlash, numerous players and people within the NBA distanced themselves from Morey’s comments, including Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta and Lakers forward LeBron James. Morey quickly deleted his tweet and apologized for any misunderstanding his tweet may have created. Regardless, Chinese sponsorships and team activities were suspended or canceled, and CCTV, China’s national television broadcaster, announced it would stop airing Rockets games indefinitely.
On Oct. 6, professional Hearthstone player Chung Ng Wai voiced his support for the Hong Kong protests during a post-tournament interview. In response, Activision Blizzard, the developer of Hearthstone, prohibited Chung from participating in e-sports tournaments for six months. While J. Allen Brack, president of an Activision Blizzard subsidiary, maintained that “relationships in China had no influence on [the ban],” many remained outraged. Gamers took to social media using #BoycottBlizzard, some deleting their Activision Blizzard accounts in support of the Hong Kong protests.
On Oct. 9, Apple removed HKmap.live, an app which enabled demonstrators to organize protests, from the App Store after complaints from the Chinese government. According to Apple’s statement issued on Oct. 10, the software was used “in ways that endanger law enforcement and residents in Hong Kong.”
Hong Kong lawmaker Charles Mok felt Apple’s actions were unjustified.
“Hongkongers will definitely look closely at whether Apple chooses to uphold its commitment to free expression and other basic human rights, or become an accomplice for Chinese censorship and oppression” especially after the incident.
“The next time you buy or vote, consider China’s crimes against humanity.”
Obviously, all companies seek to protect their economic interests, but by conceding to the demands of a totalitarian regime, they set the precedent that it’s okay to slaughter and wrongfully imprison. To deprive innocent people of basic freedoms. On the House floor Nov. 20, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “If America does not speak out for human rights in China because of commercial interests, we lose all moral authority to speak out on human rights elsewhere.”
As Americans, with jobs and schooling and lives that are generally far removed from the turmoil across the Pacific, it’s hard to see how we are involved at all. Since the world revolves around money, consumers are particularly important. With every dollar, we can control the social climate of the world in which we live. We control the market, and we dictate what we’re willing to accept.
With our votes, we can do the same. On Nov. 20, Congress took a step in the right direction, passing the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which “imposes sanctions on those responsible for human rights violations in Hong Kong.” The act was signed into law by President Trump on Nov. 27.
