Pence Slams NBA, Nike Over China Stance
October 24 2019 - 5:21PM
Dow Jones News
By William Mauldin and Ben Cohen
WASHINGTON -- Vice President Mike Pence took on Nike Inc. and
the National Basketball Association, accusing them of being
complicit in China's efforts to curtail democracy in Hong Kong.
His comments came Thursday in a speech to a Washington think
tank, where the vice president called China a strategic and
economic rival and criticized Beijing's treatment of Muslim
minorities in his strongest terms yet.
He also slammed the NBA for its response to a tweet by Houston
Rockets general manager Daryl Morey supporting the democracy
protests in Hong Kong, which the league called "regrettable."
"In siding with the Chinese Communist Party and silencing free
speech, the NBA is acting like a wholly owned subsidiary of the
authoritarian regime," Mr. Pence said in his speech at the Wilson
Center.
China analysts have said the NBA stood its ground against China
more than almost any U.S. company or multinational corporation by
not apologizing for the incident and refusing to discipline Mr.
Morey.
Lakers star LeBron James did criticize Mr. Morey in a tweet,
saying the team executive's support for antigovernment protesters
was "misinformed or not really educated on the situation" in Hong
Kong.
Mr. James has a lifetime endorsement deal with Nike, which also
didn't escape the vice president's lash.
"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," Mr. Pence said.
Earlier this year, Nike stores in China halted sales of Nike
sneakers made by a Japanese collaborator after the designer
provoked an outcry on Chinese social media by posting a photo in
support of Hong Kong protesters.
Nike didn't respond to a request for comment.
Following Mr. Morey's tweet, Chinese institutions suspended ties
with the Rockets, one of the country's most popular teams.
Democrats and Republicans united to criticize the NBA for not
defending Mr. Morey's right to free speech and for appearing to
cave to Chinese economic pressure.
After realizing that the league's initial statement was
insufficient, NBA commissioner Adam Silver was more forceful in
defending American values. A bipartisan group of lawmakers,
including Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and Rep. Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.), wrote a letter urging Mr. Silver to
suspend the NBA's activities in China until Beijing normalized
relations.
But in an interview with The Wall Street Journal this week, Mr.
Silver said that isolationism wasn't an option for the NBA, and
that he felt the league had no choice but to pursue diplomacy in
China.
"I hear some people saying that we should disengage from China,
and I respectfully disagree," Mr. Silver said.
There have been signs of the NBA's standoff with China
de-escalating in the last week. Chinese state-run television has
continued its blackout and refused to air NBA games when the season
began this week, but the Tencent Sports streaming platform has
returned to broadcasting some games.
Not long after Mr. Pence's comments, Mr. Morey tweeted for the
first time since releasing a statement about his pro-Hong Kong
tweet. His tweets on Thursday were strictly about basketball: The
Rockets begin their season on Thursday night.
Mr. Pence has previously waded into issues involving sports and
political protest. In 2017, he left an Indianapolis Colts NFL game
after players protested during the national anthem. Later,
President Trump tweeted that he asked the vice president before the
game to leave if players knelt.
Khadeeja Safdar contributed to this article.
Write to William Mauldin at william.mauldin@wsj.com and Ben
Cohen at ben.cohen@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 24, 2019 17:06 ET (21:06 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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