NBA, Nike, Apple, Google Silent on China’s Crackdown on Journalists in Hong Kong
At least seven journalists arrested in Hong Kong since June 17
The Chinese government's recent crackdown on journalists in Hong Kong has been met with silence from major U.S. corporations with extensive ties to the Communist regime.
Apple, Google, Nike, and the National Basketball Association did not return requests for comment on the arrest of at least seven Chinese journalists since June 17.
The targeted journalists are former employees of Apple Daily, a now-defunct pro-democracy newspaper based in Hong Kong. They were detained in accordance with a controversial "national security" law enacted in 2020 after authorities successfully stamped out pro-democracy protests in the former British territory. The law was praised in the pages of the New York Times, a newspaper that until recently made millions publishing Chinese government propaganda.
On Sunday, Chinese authorities detained a man identified by Hong Kong media as Fung Wai-kong, a former editor and columnist for the Apple Daily. According to Hong Kong police, the man was arrested at the airport for "conspiring to collude with foreign countries or foreign forces to endanger national security."
U.S. media could not independently verify the identity of the man arrested. If confirmed as Fung, he would be the seventh former Apple Daily journalist arrested on national security grounds since June 17, when the newspaper was forced to cease operations following a police raid.
CEO Cheung Kim Hung, COO Chow Tat Kuen, and chief editor Ryan Law were among the five senior employees arrested during the June 17 raid. Authorities also froze the Apple Daily‘s assets and bank accounts, and accused the company of using journalism as a "tool to endanger national security."
The arrests of the Apple Daily executives were lauded in an editorial from CGTN, a media outlet controlled by the Chinese government. The crackdown "was necessary to protect against destabilizing foreign forces," the editorial argued, accusing the newspaper of stepping "over the line of journalism into sedition" by publishing articles in defense of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
Apple, Google, Nike, and the NBA have all come under fire for their deep (and exceedingly profitable) ties to China, as well as their willingness to overlook human rights abuses and submit to the Chinese government's demands. In the United States, meanwhile, these corporations are among the most outspoken when it comes to so-called social justice issues.
In 2019, Apple CEO Tim Cook touted his company's commitment to "sustaining a free press and thriving democracy," but only in Western markets where such rhetoric is welcomed. In China, where supporting democracy and press freedom is a criminal offense, Apple is perfectly willing to disregard its own values.
Earlier this year, the New York Times reported that Apple's alleged commitment to civil liberties and privacy did not apply to China. The company gave Chinese government employees control over the data centers housing the personal data of Chinese customers. At the request of the government, Apple scrapped the encryption technology it uses in other countries to protect user privacy, and even removed its "Designed by Apple in California" slogan from the backs of iPhones sold in China.
Tech giant Google used to pride itself on its motto: "Don't be evil." The phrase was removed from its corporate code of conduct in 2018, however, around the time Google was pursuing a deal to launch a search engine in China that would comply with the government's strict censorship demands. The project was ultimately abandoned.
Google and its subsidiary YouTube are banned in China, but that hasn't prevented the company from blocking content critical of the Chinese government, including videos recently published by a human rights group calling attention to the genocide of Uyghur Muslims in China's Xinjiang region.
During a congressional hearing in 2020, Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai both declined to even acknowledge China's well-documented history of stealing intellectual property from U.S. companies.
Nike is "a brand of China and for China." That's how CEO John Donahoe described the company during a fourth-quarter earnings call last week, when Nike reported net income of $1.5 billion, to the delight of shareholders. Nike and Apple are among the U.S. corporations that have been lobbying Congress to weaken legislation that would ban the import of goods made with slave labor in Xinjiang.
The NBA, like Nike, has struggled to reconcile its outspoken support for social justice causes in the United States with its cozy business ties to China and its reluctance to criticize Beijing for human rights abuses. An ESPN investigation published in 2020 found that NBA training academies in Xinjiang were rife with complaints of physical abuse.
In 2019, when former Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted in support of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters, the NBA apologized for his "regrettable" comments that had "deeply offended" Chinese fans. All-star forward LeBron James described Morey as "misinformed or not really educated on the situation."
Biden Aide Leading Infrastructure Negotiations Helped Push Through Disastrous China Bill
Steve Ricchetti spearheaded China trade deal that led to 'sharp decline' in U.S. manufacturing
The White House official leading negotiations on a massive infrastructure spending bill had a crucial role in pushing through a China trade deal that has been blamed for a "sharp decline" in American manufacturing jobs.
Steve Ricchetti, a close Biden confidant who serves as White House counselor, is "sculpting" details of the bill in White House meetings and with Democratic leaders in Congress, the Washington Post reported. As deputy chief of staff to Bill Clinton, Ricchetti helped wrangle votes for a bill that established permanent normal trade relations with China. The legislation opened up trade markets between the United States and China and allowed China to become a member of the World Trade Organization.
Clinton praised Ricchetti at the time for spearheading negotiations with lawmakers. But the bill was criticized by Democrats including then-Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.). A 2012 study from two Yale researchers found that permanent normal trade relations led to a "sharp drop" in U.S. manufacturing jobs in the years after it was implemented.
"On the basis of trade alone there is enough reason to oppose PNTR at this time," Pelosi said on April 19, 2000. "China has violated every trade agreement it has made with the U.S. over the last ten years."
Sanders said in a speech in 2005 that the bill had been an "absolute failure" for the United States.
The Normal Trade Relations for the People's Republic of China Act passed both the House and the Senate, with then-Senator Joe Biden voting in favor of it despite opposition within his own party.
Ricchetti has come under scrutiny because of his brother’s lobbying work. Jeff Ricchetti has seen a windfall of new lobbying clients in the months since his brother was tapped by the Biden White House. Executives from two companies that have hired Ricchetti, Amazon and General Motors, have secured meetings at the White House, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Democrats are pushing for $6 trillion in spending on infrastructure projects and various climate change initiatives. The Democratic proposal includes a $2.5 trillion tax hike. Republicans have countered with a proposal to spend nearly $1 trillion on traditional infrastructure projects.
China Guru Describes Unsuccessful Effort to Warn Apple of Dangers in Doing Business with Communists
In a recent article, the New York Times discusses Doug Guthrie, a leading expert on Chinese business, and his work at Apple. Guthrie claims that he warned Apple and similar companies of what was happening in the communist country, but the Masters of the Universe forged ahead with “uncomfortable compromises” to keep access to the massive market.
In an article titled “He Warned Apple About the Risks in China. Then They Became Reality,” the New York Times discusses Doug Guthrie, one of America’s leading experts on China’s turn towards capitalism who helped Apple navigate the Chinese market in 2014.
That year, Xi Jinping began putting pressure on Western companies in order to strengthen his control of the country. Guthrie realized that Apple was extremely vulnerable as almost all of its devices were assembled in the China region.
Guthrie began touring the company with a slideshow and a lecture to raise the alarm on the precarious position Apple was in. According to the Times, Guthrie met with various Apple executives saying: “Do you guys understand who Xi Jinping is? Are you listening to what’s going on here?” adding, “That was my big calling card.”
Samm Sacks, a China specialist at the New America Foundation, commented: “It was always difficult for Western companies to do business in China, but in many ways the challenges have shifted. The Communist Party is firmly in control, and both Western companies and Chinese companies in the private sector have been under attack.”
The NYT writes:
Mr. Guthrie’s career arc and evolving view of China tell the story of Western industry’s complicated dance with the country over the past three decades. Mr. Guthrie and many executives, politicians and academics had bet that Western investment in China would lead the country to liberalize. It is now clear that they miscalculated.
“We were wrong,” Mr. Guthrie said. “The wild card was Xi Jinping.”
In recent years, China shut down Marriott’s website after it listed Tibet and Taiwan as separate countries in a customer survey. It suspended sign-ups to LinkedIn after the site failed to censor enough political content. And the Communist Party urged a boycott of Western apparel companies that criticized forced-labor practices in Xinjiang, a Chinese region where the government is repressing Uyghurs, the country’s Muslim ethnic minority.
Read more at the New York Times here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com
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