Recent events between the Houston Rockets and China illustrate China’s “weaponizing” of U.S.-based companies against America, warned Gordon Chang, Daily Beast columnist and author of The Coming Collapse of China, in a Monday interview on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Tonight with hosts Rebecca Mansour and Joel Pollak.
Houston Rockets General Manager Darly Morey expressed support via Twitter for demonstrators in Hong Kong calling for democracy and independence from China. He tweeted, “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.”
Morey subsequently deleted his tweet and issued an apology after the Chinese Basketball Association’s suspension of business dealings with the Houston Rockets. The National Basketball Association (NBA), headed by Adam Silver, also acquiesced to Chinese state pressure.
Breitbart News highlighted the Houston Rockets’ business interest in China:
Breaking: New Hiring Twice as High as Economists Expected in Gangbusters Jobs Report
2 States Aren’t Just Defying ‘Pride Month,’ They’re Replacing Pagan Celebration With ‘Nuclear Family Month’
The Octagon on the South Lawn: Trump’s UFC Freedom 250 White House extravaganza
Republicans face ticking midterm clock as Iran fallout keeps pressure on gas prices
Trump’s personal legal team aims to clear hush money conviction
Dem senator bankrolling Platner’s campaign ripped for downplaying abuse allegations in bombshell report
The key strategy red states are using to lower housing costs revealed
Senate push to reauthorize nation’s spy powers stumbles over controversial Trump decision
Handcuffed suspect allegedly slips restraints, steals Dallas police cruiser with officer trapped in back seat
Overcrowded migrant vessel with 240 people on board intercepted near Turks and Caicos
Rubio sanctions Cuban groups with ties to US nonprofit network funded by communist donor Neville Roy Singham
New Jersey man accused of killing wife with barbell allegedly confessed in messages to relatives: report
Trump announces ‘rally to end all rallies’ in DC to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary
Feds say US citizen gathered information on American targets for Chinese Communist Party
AOC dodges questions on abuse allegations, Nazi tattoo claims rocking Platner’s campaign
The NBA in general and the Rockets in particular, have several highly lucrative business arrangements. The communist country is a fast-growing NBA market and the Rockets, thanks largely to Yao Ming’s career in Houston, are one of the most popular teams in the world’s most populous nation.
“With respect to the Houston Rockets … what’s going on there is they are now weaponizing our companies against us,” said Chang of China’s political influence over U.S.-based companies.
Chang added, “The Houston Rockets, what they did was despicable, but you can’t expect the Houston Rockets to stand up to the Communist Party of China, so this type of thing was inevitable, and it’s occurred, of course, with Marriot some of the other hotel chains, and of course, with Hollywood.”
“But the real story here is not that business executives are craven,” continued Chang. “The story here is that Beijing is weaponizing companies, that they are demanding obedience, and they are demanding that American companies — and we’re going to see this pretty soon — implement Communist Party politics to undermine American policy.”
Chang stated, “We can’t have two things at the same time. We can’t have businesses in China, and we can’t have a free marketplace of ideas in the United States. You can have one, but you can’t have both at the same time, and because we need to protect our democracy, I think we need to get our companies out of China.”
Breaking: New Hiring Twice as High as Economists Expected in Gangbusters Jobs Report
2 States Aren’t Just Defying ‘Pride Month,’ They’re Replacing Pagan Celebration With ‘Nuclear Family Month’
The Octagon on the South Lawn: Trump’s UFC Freedom 250 White House extravaganza
Republicans face ticking midterm clock as Iran fallout keeps pressure on gas prices
Trump’s personal legal team aims to clear hush money conviction
Dem senator bankrolling Platner’s campaign ripped for downplaying abuse allegations in bombshell report
The key strategy red states are using to lower housing costs revealed
Senate push to reauthorize nation’s spy powers stumbles over controversial Trump decision
Handcuffed suspect allegedly slips restraints, steals Dallas police cruiser with officer trapped in back seat
Overcrowded migrant vessel with 240 people on board intercepted near Turks and Caicos
Rubio sanctions Cuban groups with ties to US nonprofit network funded by communist donor Neville Roy Singham
New Jersey man accused of killing wife with barbell allegedly confessed in messages to relatives: report
Trump announces ‘rally to end all rallies’ in DC to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary
Feds say US citizen gathered information on American targets for Chinese Communist Party
AOC dodges questions on abuse allegations, Nazi tattoo claims rocking Platner’s campaign
Chang remarked, “Yes it does make us less efficient, but nonetheless, You can’t compare efficiency against national survival.”
Chang commented on the status of ongoing protests in Hong Kong.
“Effectively, there’s martial law in Hong Kong, right now,” said Chang. “The police are acting in an unrestricted fashion. They can do what they want. For instance, my friend, the war correspondent Michael Yong, reports that the police will routinely board buses and check identification papers, [and] take off people they don’t like. So essentially, the police are running Hong Kong, right now.”
“We know that Hong Kong people are acting in defiance,” noted Chang. “On Friday, Carrie Lam, the Hong Kong chief executive, issued an emergency order that people were no longer allowed to wear masks in public, and we saw on Sunday, a lot of people — not just the young people dressed in black who normally have riot gear on — but also the middle class, the mass of Hong Kong people, they went out in public with masks on.”
Breaking: New Hiring Twice as High as Economists Expected in Gangbusters Jobs Report
2 States Aren’t Just Defying ‘Pride Month,’ They’re Replacing Pagan Celebration With ‘Nuclear Family Month’
The Octagon on the South Lawn: Trump’s UFC Freedom 250 White House extravaganza
Republicans face ticking midterm clock as Iran fallout keeps pressure on gas prices
Trump’s personal legal team aims to clear hush money conviction
Dem senator bankrolling Platner’s campaign ripped for downplaying abuse allegations in bombshell report
The key strategy red states are using to lower housing costs revealed
Senate push to reauthorize nation’s spy powers stumbles over controversial Trump decision
Handcuffed suspect allegedly slips restraints, steals Dallas police cruiser with officer trapped in back seat
Overcrowded migrant vessel with 240 people on board intercepted near Turks and Caicos
Rubio sanctions Cuban groups with ties to US nonprofit network funded by communist donor Neville Roy Singham
New Jersey man accused of killing wife with barbell allegedly confessed in messages to relatives: report
Trump announces ‘rally to end all rallies’ in DC to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary
Feds say US citizen gathered information on American targets for Chinese Communist Party
AOC dodges questions on abuse allegations, Nazi tattoo claims rocking Platner’s campaign
Chang went on, “[These were] 74-year-old grannies who were doing this in a show of defiance, so Hong Kong, right now, is certainly not under the control of Carrie Lam, but the Hong Kong police are trying to establish some sort of foothold of control.”
“The one thing that Xi Jinping is most afraid of is contagion,” estimated Chang. “He knows that people in the mainland don’t sympathize with the Hong Kong protesters or with Hong Kong people, in general, but he is worried that people will be inspired by their actions. You’ve got to remember that the people in Hong Kong have pushed Carrie Lam around. They got her to permanently withdraw the extradition bill which triggered these protests in April, and people in the mainland have their own grievances.”
Chang concluded, “I’m sure that Xi Jinping is really deathly concerned that there will be protests throughout the mainland.”
Story cited here.
