Mike Pence says US ‘stands with’ Hong Kong protesters and calls out Nike and NBA for hypocrisy
- Despite criticising China on many fronts, Pence said the US sought neither to ‘decouple’ with the country nor contain its economic development
- ‘Nike promotes itself as a so-called social justice champion, but when it comes to Hong Kong, it prefers checking its social conscience at the door,’ he said
The United States government “stands with” pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, US Vice-President Mike Pence said on Thursday in a wide-ranging speech that criticised Beijing, as well as Nike and the NBA for bowing to the “authoritarian regime”.
Hong Kong is a living example of what can happen “when China embraces liberty”, Pence said, amid continuing pro-democracy protests there against the city’s government and Beijing.
“To the millions in Hong Kong who have been peacefully demonstrating to protect your rights these past months, we stand with you,” he said in a speech hosted by the Wilson Centre in Washington. He did not mention the increasingly violent nature of clashes between protesters and the police, but urged demonstrators “to stay on the path of non-violent protest”.
Weighing into an international spat over an NBA team general manager’s expression of support for the protesters, Pence condemned players and executives of the basketball league who have sided with the Chinese government’s criticism of the sports executive.
The league was “acting like a wholly owned subsidiary of the authoritarian regime”, said Pence, who also condemned Nike for pulling Houston Rockets merchandise from Chinese stores in the wake of the comments from the team’s general manager, Daryl Morey.
“Nike promotes itself as a so-called social justice champion,” Pence said, “but when it comes to Hong Kong, it prefers checking its social conscience at the door.”