Joshua Wong makes misplaced call for Donald Trump’s support
Socialsit Action reporter
Why is it that Hong Kong liberals, many pan-democrats and even localists imagine that the US government (or little Britain) will help them in the struggle against the Chinese dictatorship? It is the worst of political illusions to believe that right-wing capitalist governments have any interest in supporting democratic rights or stopping national oppression. Their priority has always been business ties and profits, regardless of whether they deal with dictators or elected governments. This was the case before, and it is even more the case with Donald Trump – known for his authoritarian sympathies – running the US.
“Being a businessman, I hope Donald Trump could know the dynamics in Hong Kong and know that to maintain the business sector benefits in Hong Kong, it’s necessary to fully support human rights in Hong Kong,”
– Joshua Wong Chi-fung speaking to a US Congressional panel.
Wong is really barking up the wrong tree. Why should Trump, who is preparing a massive assault on human rights in the US, including the deportation of millions of immigrants, defend human rights in Hong Kong or China? Perhaps Wong isn’t aware of Trump’s well-known and disgraceful comments on the June 4 massacre:
“When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it. Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength. Our country is right now perceived as weak.”
– Donald Trump interviewed in Playboy magazine 1990.
Furthermore, Trump’s administration is likely to pursue ‘trade offs’ with China, to keep quiet about each other’s human rights abuses in return for what one Trump advisor calls a ‘grand bargain’ not to disrupt the current balance of power in Asia.
[James Woolsey’s face] “I can therefore see the emergence of a grand bargain in which the US accepts China’s political and social structure and commits not to disrupt it in any way in exchange for China’s commitment not to challenge the status quo in Asia.”
– James Woolsey, who is Trump’s top advisor on national security.
Working class people and those sincerely fighting for democratic rights in Hong Kong and China cannot put any trust in capitalist politicians – whichever national flag they wave. The struggle against inequality, poverty and the miseries of capitalism is a global struggle, as is the struggle for real democracy, and it can only succeed by building international solidarity. But this must be the solidarity of the poor and oppressed, not the false solidarity of the rich and powerful, which only conceals their appetite for more plunder. Socialists are struggling to build a working class alternative – in China and the US – to a system that everywhere relies on increasing levels of police brutality and repression.
