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On October 4, 2019, Daryl Morey, the General Manager of the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA) issued the tweet “Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong.” This may appear to be an innocent and valid expression of freedom of speech. But a deeper reflection on that tweet shows not only that it was uncalled for, but also why it was not a valid expression of freedom of speech.

First of all, a country has its sovereignty, which another country should not interfere with. This not only applies to governments, but as well as to private companies (whether it is business or sports) so that a private company should not interfere in the internal affairs of another country. Hong Kong is definitely a part of China, even though for the next 27 years it is still under two systems and one country. Therefore, a government or a private company from another country should not interfere in the internal affairs of China, including Hong Kong.

Just like in a crowded theatre, freedom of speech does not allow someone to yell out “fire” when there is no actual fire. In other words, freedom of speech does not guarantee that anyone can say anything.

One may argue that if there are obvious massive atrocities or injustices that a large number of people are suffering from their own government, then perhaps there could be argument that could justify a foreign country interfering in another country’s internal affair. But that is not the case in Hong Kong. As we in an earlier article [1] had analyzed the situation in Hong Kong and explained that Hong Kong may have its underlying economic/social/political issues, these are not issues introduced by the Chinese government since the return of Hong Kong to China. As a matter of fact, as we explained in that article, China if not restrained by the “two systems one country” concept could have made major improvements on these issues.

The protests have been going on for about half a year now and there seems to be much support, especially among the young people, including school age students. However, some of the major goals of these protests, such as more freedom and human rights, were even more lacking during the 150 years of colonial rule under Great Britain. Furthermore, according to the Canadian Fraser Institute’s latest Human Freedom Index of 2019, Hong Kong ranks third in the world, far better than that of the United States, which ranks 15th. [2] Although the mass media seems to emphasize police brutality. Any honest assessment of the violence and brutality will show that they were due mostly to the protestors, with numerous and massive destruction of public facilities such as the Hong Kong metro system, innumerable use of Molotov and other explosive devices, resulting in many injuries to ordinary people and police. In any other country, including the U.S., the government would have called out the National Guard and arrested the protestors and restored peace. Instead of pointing this out, the U.S. government has been actively coaching, supporting, financing, and praising the violent protestors, and mobilizing the full cheer-leading support of their mass media.

Without having a better understanding of the situation in Hong Kong, no wonder that the NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has publicly stated that there will be no reprimand of Daryl Morey. With the possible exception of LeBron James’ criticism of Morey’s tweet, the American public seems to think that freedom of speech should encourage and support Morey’s tweet. As a matter of fact, LeBron James has received a lot of criticisms that seem to accuse him of just trying to protect his own financial interest.

Unfortunately during the Hong Kong protests, it is the ordinary people and businesses of Hong Kong that are suffering. Does the U.S. government really care? It seems that their major goal is to weaken and destroy China, the U.S.’s major competitor, even if it ruins Hong Kong’s economy and its livelihood for many people. Recently U.S Congress has passed a bill and President Trump has signed the bill. supporting the protests in Hong Kong. [3] So much for justice, democracy, and human rights!

Where were they when without any doubt the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul? [4] Because the Saudi government, although not necessary the Saudi people, is a major ally of the U.S. and is rich in oil, the U.S. government just looked the other way. Where were they when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s seems to be trying to establish a Hindu-only nation? [5] Again, India borders China and is a useful ally to counter China. So the U.S. government so far has essentially not taken any action against India. One can conclude that the U.S. government does not really consistently use freedom, democracy, and human rights to govern their actions, but only uses them as an attack weapon whenever it suits them.

One will probably point out what about the situation in Xinjiang where it has been reported that the Chinese government has detained millions of Uyghurs. However, as has recently been pointed out by Ajit Singh and Max Blumenthal that this accusation, even though it has been widely circulated, is based on two highly dubious claims. [6] The dubious study that first came out with the “million detained” figure was popularized by a Washington, DC-based NGO that is backed by the US government, the “Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders,” which gave its estimate based on interviewing a grand total of eight people. The second study is based on flimsy media reports by a far rightist who believes that he is “led by God” on a mission against China

The American mass media should not just blindly follow the direction of the American government. Instead, it should fully exercise their independence to provide an independent check and analysis of the truth. The American people should also not be blindly led by the U.S. government to try to weaken and overthrow another government, as it has done so in so many other countries during the last many years.

[1] Hong Kong: Past, Present, and Future”: http://www.dontow.com/2019/09/hong-kong-past-present-and-future/.

[2] The Human Freedom Index 2019: https://www.fraserinstitute.org/studies/human-freedom-index-2019.

[3] See, e.g., CNBC’s November 27, 2019 news article: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/27/trump-signs-bill-backing-hong-kong-protesters-into-law-in-spite-of-beijings-objections.html

[4] “Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Jamal_Khashoggi.

[5] “As Protests Rage on Citizenship Bill, Is India Becoming a Hindu Nation?”: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/16/world/asia/india-citizenship-protests.html.

[6] Ajit Singh and Max Blumenthal, “China Detaining millions of Uyghurs? Serious problems with claims by US-backed NGO and far-right researcher ‘led by God’ against Beijing”: https://thegrayzone.com/2019/12/21/china-detaining-millions-uyghurs-problems-claims-us-ngo-researcher/.