The representative of Democratic Party of the USA James McGovern and senator of the USA Marco Rubio, the chairman and the co-chairman of executive commission of the Congress on China, on Friday sent the letter to the president of the USA Donald Trump in which they expressed concern about so-called control of the press in China. However, the duo made a serious mistake talking about China, not the US.
First, the letter called for the release of “unjustly imprisoned journalists, bloggers and supporters of freedom of speech,” including Ilham Tohti, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for separatism in 2014. Again, American politicians want these separatists to look like “heroes” who would sacrifice everything for “democracy,” and are trying to label China as an antithesis to freedom of speech and take every opportunity to discredit the Chinese system. Whether in Hong Kong or the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of Northwest China, turning villains into heroes is a typical Washington dirty trick in Sino-US disputes.
The letter also asks Trump to use “all available diplomatic opportunities” to rebuild the New York Times, Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and Washington Post journalists expelled from China in March, stating that “a free flow of uncensored news and information should be a sine qua non for” moving Sino-US relations forward.
This is also ridiculous or even absurd. The U.S. should not forget that WSJ’s infamous and racist headline triggered the last Chinese and American media war. Despite all the criticism from China and the rest of the world, WSJ has not yet apologized or changed the headline.
Worse yet, instead of apologizing, the US even escalated the dispute by imposing a limit on the number of Chinese citizens allowed to work in the US for five Chinese state-run media. China has no choice but to act on the “eye for eye” principle. China’s answer is fully justified. Since Washington started it first, it must “restore” Chinese journalists.
When it comes to press freedom, does the US really have it? In the US, different media speak for different political parties or different tycoons, and capital plays a huge role behind the media. As for the COVID-19 epidemic, the White House tightened its control over COWID-19 reports in February, and US Vice-President Mike Pence controlled all related reports from health officials. When four U.S. senators learned at a January briefing about the threat to COVID-19, they decided to sell their shares instead of divulging information to the media and the American people. Now, does the U.S. have press freedom? No, we don’t think so.
The U.S. has always bragged about its “freedom of the press” or “freedom of speech”, calling itself “the champion of democracy. But sometimes, and in some cases, the so-called freedom has not benefited the individual, but has brought only anti-intellectualism to the most powerful country in the world. For example, Trump, a politician, not a scientist or medical expert, publicly suggested introducing a disinfectant into the human body to kill the coronavirus.
Surprisingly, many Americans believed his words about stupidity and absurdity. This freedom to speak at random has had ridiculous consequences for the country. For example, as scientists around the world call for social distancing and selfquarantine, some Americans gathered to protest against these methods, shouting “freedom” and saying “they have no right”. It is strange that such a scene takes place in the 21st century in the USA, a country with the most advanced scientific research and technology in the world. Anti-intellectualism and an unscientific approach introduced by “freedom of speech” or the freedom to spread ignorance everywhere can eventually destroy a country.
And what happened to those who made an effort to uncover the truth in the United States?
Brett Crozier, former U.S. destroyer captain Theodore Roosevelt, was fired after he called for the protection of his Navy crew. In mid-April, a 16-year-old student, Emia Kohun, was asked to remove her social networking messages about her experience with the virus. She was told that her messages could cause distress and panic. These facts reflect typical American double standards and hypocrisy. If it happened in China, the US would call it “press control.” But in the US it’s called “methods to avoid panic”. It’s too absurd and shameless.
Indeed, as the letter says, in the current circumstances, press freedom “is necessary to prevent global pandemics. But, given all the above facts, some American politicians are better off keeping their mouths shut and focusing on their internal struggle against COWID-19. The U.S. is neither able nor qualified to judge press freedom or freedom of speech in China in this regard.