ArcaMax

China's clash with the National Basketball Association over a short tweet reveals an unfortunate truth. Contrary to our best American hopes that China's success with market capitalism would weaken that government's chokehold on free speech, it appears to have done more to seduce us.

That's because lots of money hangs in the balance and, as much as the NBA may be the most prominent American business being targeted by Chinese authorities, it is hardly alone.

Apple, for example, late Wednesday removed a smartphone app used by pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong in the tech giant's latest surrender to China's autocratic government. The app, HKmap.live, allows protesters and others to track Hong Kong police movements through crowdsourced information.

The Beijing government also complained via its state-run news outlet, People's Daily, that Apple allowed a song advocating Hong Kong independence to be available on its platforms. The government doesn't like too much chatter about independence, whether spoken or sung.

The government also has banned some fashion brands and suggestive T-shirts. Recent crackdowns have included Winnie the Pooh. Too bad. It wasn't his idea to be used as a political symbol by satirists because of his alleged resemblance to President Xi Jinping.

But none of those episodes has received as much attention as the message that Daryl Morey, general manager of the Houston Rockets, tweeted on Oct. 4 in support of anti-Beijing protesters who have jammed Hong Kong streets for the past four months: "Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong."

The tweet was quickly deleted and the NBA league announced its "regret" that many Chinese, particularly those who live outside Hong Kong, were offended by the tweet. Since the Chinese government doesn't allow free press or free speech, it is very hard to say how many were delighted by the message.

The NBA's apologetic response struck many critics as downright cowardly in light of the NBA's high tolerance for political dissent in past cases. Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James has routinely traded insult tweets with President Donald Trump.

Two of the league's most successful coaches, Steve Kerr and Gregg Popovich, have spoken out on gun safety and immigration issues, but avoided taking sides in the China controversy. Yet Trump did not wait to criticize both and some others in the NBA for "pandering" to China.

Yet, the president -- who is outspoken on just about every other issue on earth and beyond, including trade and tariff negotiations -- was uncharacteristically mute on human rights in Hong Kong.

The president, like NBA owners and China's leaders, has his eye on the bottom line. With the world's largest population and one of its biggest economies, China will not be ignored, especially by the NBA, which says that country's professional basketball fans number about twice the U.S. population. The NBA also has a $15 billion deal with a Chinese livestreaming company.

A big dent was put in that revenue stream when Chinese businesses and government retaliated against the objectionable tweet by canceling events, tearing down posters and declining to air the big exhibition game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Brooklyn Nets on CCTV, the Chinese national television network.

Money talks. But what I find even more troubling is the apparent erosion of resistance to China's efforts to force Americans to censor themselves.

Deadspin published a memo from a senior ESPN news executive telling anchors to avoid political discussions about China and Hong Kong, and instead focus on the related basketball issues. CNN reporter Christina Macfarlane was interrupted by a Rockets media official when she asked Rockets stars James Harden and Russell Westbrook in a news conference whether the recent events had changed their thoughts about speaking freely on political issues. Macfarlane herself was quickly shut down for asking a question that was insufficiently related to basketball. She later received an apology.

The sad truth of all this fuss, ethically speaking, is that Morey was right and the Chinese government was wrong. The demonstrators in Hong Kong deserve the right to free speech and were promised more democracy when the city was handed over by the British than Beijing has been willing to grant.

There was a time when we in the free world hoped that a taste of free market capitalism would bring enough rewards to all Chinese people and that they would crave more freedoms. Instead, China is now so economically huge -- and growing -- that its leaders have been content to bully their way around the block, and the globe.

The result for the past 40 years has been a mixture of free market capitalism and authoritarian governance that displays the worst lessons of capitalism. Essentially, everybody has their price, so take the profits and shut up about your political leadership.

That's a pretty persuasive message. All it requires is an absence of moral courage.

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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)

(c) 2019 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.