With the deployment of Chinese military police officers to Hong Kong’s outskirts, China seems increasingly likely to use its military to crush the rebellion. This would be a moral disgrace: one that the United States cannot accept, condone, or otherwise excuse. It would also be a mistake, because the U.S. has a joint moral and strategic purpose to stand with the people in Hong Kong struggling for their freedom.
There is usually a tension between the need to engage constructively with foreign powers, and the need to stand up for what is right in the world. This was evident during the Cold War, when America overlooked (at least in public) some allies’ shortcomings in the face of the much greater threats of communist domination and global nuclear annihilation. The same tension is also evident today, to give another example, in President Trump’s negotiations with Kim Jong Un. He rightly hopes to make progress and de-escalate, even if that means temporarily setting aside Kim’s horrific human rights record.
Happily, however, the case of Hong Kong is something different entirely. This is the rare event in which America’s strategic and moral interests align perfectly.
The struggle over Hong Kong’s future has a much greater significance than the future of a million people. It is the microcosm of a much larger and more consequential global struggle for humanity’s future. On the one side is a future in which most of humanity is governed by its own consent, expresses itself freely, and resides within the sturdy confines of constitutional democracy and the rule of law. On the other side is the dystopia that is today’s People’s Republic of China. That vision would arrest humanity’s progress under a dictatorship that closes off its internet, suppresses both information and free speech, enforces its laws selectively if at all, and brings down the hammer of state terror upon those who say the wrong things or practice the wrong religion.
In Hong Kong, China is showing us their vision of a future where they dominate much of the globe. China is already shredding its own commitment to preserve Hong Kong’s independence until 2047, despite having promised as much in the Sino-British declaration. As usual, the rules in China are whatever those in power say they are. This should not be lost on the many smaller nations that have been targeted by China’s Belt and Road initiative.
And of course, there’s also the obvious. As Xi Jinping dangles the threat of grotesque violence in response to advocacy for freedom, we see the nature of his regime for what it is: an authoritarian state that cares nothing for human lives. In addition to the threat against Hong Kong, it is imposing even greater hardships already upon millions of innocent Muslims in Xinjiang who sit imprisoned in Chinese concentration camps.
Meanwhile, in screeching about foreign interference in Hong Kong while simultaneously stealing the world’s intellectual property, the Chinese communists prove themselves to be veritable masters of hypocrisy.
As the leader of the free world, Trump cannot be neutral on what is happening in Hong Kong. We implore him to forcefully condemn China’s repression and its threats of escalating violence. The president should also draw the world’s attention to what is happening in Hong Kong. America and China are now engaged in a great struggle for allies, trading relationships, and the fabric of international order. We believe the president must make clear that, despite any failing on his own or America’s part, the situation in Hong Kong proves that there is no rational debate as to which nation offers a better vision and a better long-term partner.
If Beijing and the rest of the world see America hesitant even to speak up in defense of freedom advocates, how on Earth can we be regarded as ready to defeat China’s overt efforts to steal the world’s technology, expand its territory in the South China Sea, and subject its neighbors to a new system of feudal mercantilism?
The moment for American leadership is now.
