[The Hill] With massive protests continuing in Hong Kong against China’s efforts to erode its freedoms, Washington is missing a sizable opportunity to promote our ideals, encourage democratic forces elsewhere, and leverage Beijing’s need for a trade deal.Of late, President Donald Trump has sidestepped the matter and forced other administration officials to do the same. Trump reportedly assured China’s autocratic leader, Xi Jinping, in recent days that he would avoid criticizing Beijing over Hong Kong in order to advance trade talks, and the State Department prevented outgoing U.S. Consul General Kurt Tong from criticizing China over Hong Kong as part of a farewell address.
Trump’s approach to Hong Kong is part of a broader U.S. strategy of sacrificing human rights at the altar of trade. Vice President Mike Pence had planned to echo the criticism he leveled at Beijing last fall over its brutal suppression of Muslim Uighurs who seek to practice their faith, but he changed course and remained silent last month as Washington and Beijing sought to reignite trade talks.
The President’s reluctance to speak out for Hong Kong’s protestors is particularly ill-timed, for it comes as China cracks down more harshly on freedom at home while promoting its authoritarian model of governance abroad as an alternative to U.S.-led freedom and democracy ‐ thus challenging U.S. influence in Asia and elsewhere. That this year marks the 30th anniversary of Beijing’s crackdown on protestors in Tiananmen Square makes Trump’s silence even more painful.
Moreover, Hong Kong may be a particularly bad place for Trump to take a pass on defending freedom because that city has come to symbolize freedom, ranking first in the Heritage Foundation’s 2019 Index of Economic Freedom ‐ and at a time when the United States, the free world’s leader, languishes at number 12.