{"id":2805,"date":"2019-10-28T23:10:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-28T23:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.blackopspartners.com\/?p=2805"},"modified":"2019-10-28T23:10:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-28T23:10:00","slug":"americans-lawmakers-are-waking-up-to-china-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blackopspartners.com\/americans-lawmakers-are-waking-up-to-china-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"Americans, Lawmakers Are \u2018Waking Up\u2019 to China Threat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A bipartisan group of lawmakers wrote letters on Oct. 9<\/a> and Oct. 18<\/a> to heads of Apple, NBA<\/a>, and Activision Blizzard<\/a> criticizing these companies<\/a> for bowing to political pressure from the Chinese regime (CCP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The initiative united Republican and Democratic legislators. Among those who spoke out is Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Sen. Ted Cruz<\/a> (R-Texas), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Gallagher told Yahoo Finance<\/a> that \u201che doesn\u2019t think he\u2019s ever seen a matter unite such a diverse group of politicians.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think the American people, and by extension, the representatives, are waking up to the threat posed by the Chinese communist party, in a sense that what they\u2019re trying to do runs counter to basic American values, particularly free expression,\u201d said Gallagher in this interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senator Cruz also published an op-ed in\u00a0USA Today<\/a>, \u201cwhere he called on the NBA, Nike, Apple, Google, and other iconic American companies to stop importing the Chinese communist party\u2019s censorship and oppression to the United States,\u201d\u00a0according to his\u00a0website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChina is, I believe, the most significant long-term geopolitical threat facing America,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChina is modernizing its military\u2014they\u2019re doing so in large part with technology and intellectual property they\u2019ve stolen from the United States because they employ the theft of IP as a policy agenda item. And that threat is very real. China\u2019s human rights record is abysmal. They torture their citizens, they murder their citizens,\u201d said Cruz in an interview with Yahoo Finance<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the beginning of October, Apple rejected the app<\/a>, HKmap.live, that tracks the movement of Hong Kong<\/a> police and protesters during the ongoing pro-democracy movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officially launched in August, the crowd-sourced app has become popular in Hong Kong for users to avoid tear gas and clashes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter from legislators to Apple\u2019s CEO expressed concerns about Apple\u2019s statement: \u201cAt Apple, we are not afraid to say that our values drive our curation decisions.\u201d The letter pointed out that Apple is complicit in the CCP\u2019s efforts to suppress free speech, deny Chinese citizen\u2019s basic human rights, and coercing U.S. corporations to follow the regime\u2019s abusive policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter points out that Apple censored about 2,200 other apps in China, including an app used to circumvent China\u2019s Great Firewall (a tool used by the Chinese regime to censor internet contents)\u2014as well as \u201capps made by and for oppressed ethnic minorities,\u201d like Uyghurs and Tibetans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lawmakers urge Apple to \u201creverse course, to demonstrate that Apple puts value above market access, and to stand with the brave men and women fighting for basic rights and dignity in Hong Kong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawmakers also condemned the CCP in the letter to the NBA, saying, \u201cIt is outrageous that the Chinese communist party is using economic power to suppress the speech of Americans inside the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also sharply criticized the NBA: \u201cIt is also outrageous that the NBA has caved to Chinese government demands for contrition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter urges the NBA to fully respect the right of players, employees, and team owners to express their opinions freely regardless of \u201ceconomic consequences\u201d and respond to the boycott of NBA and the Houston Rockets imposed by the Chinese government by \u201csuspending NBA activities in China.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Activision Blizzard, a video-game company, punished player Ng Wai Chung<\/a>, also known under name Blitzchung, for shouting out \u201cStand with Hong Kong\u201d during a post-tournament broadcast, by suspending him for one year from Blizzard Entertainment and revoking his $10,000 prize money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five legislators signed a letter strongly urged Activision Blizzard to reverse its decision regarding Chung.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs China amplifies its campaign of intimidation, you and your company must decide whether to look beyond the bottom line and promote American values\u2014like freedom of speech and thought\u2014or to give in to Beijing\u2019s demands in order to preserve market access,\u201d states the letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs China amplifies its campaign of intimidation, you and your company must decide whether to look beyond the bottom line and promote American values\u2014like freedom of speech and thought\u2014or to give in to Beijing\u2019s demands in order to preserve market access,\u201d states the letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour disappointing decision could have a chilling effect on gamers who seek to use their platform to promote human rights and basic freedoms. Indeed, many gamers around the world have taken notice of your company\u2019s actions, understandably calling for boycotts of Activision Blizzard gaming sites,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more at The Epoch Times<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A bipartisan group of lawmakers wrote letters on Oct. 9 and Oct. 18 to heads of Apple, NBA, and Activision Blizzard criticizing these companies for bowing to political pressure from the Chinese regime (CCP). The initiative united Republican and Democratic legislators. Among those who spoke out is Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), Sen. Ron Wyden […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,9],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackopspartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2805"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackopspartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackopspartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackopspartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackopspartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blackopspartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2805\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackopspartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackopspartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackopspartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}