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Letters | If the US wants to protect rule of law, start with its own backyard
Readers discuss the Trump administration’s sanctions on Hong Kong officials, Hong Kong’s embrace of DEI measures, and China’s economic challenge
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The United States has on several occasions accused the Chinese and Hong Kong governments of actions that eroded judicial independence and the rule of law. It has imposed sanctions on officials, most recently for “transnational repression” (“US sanctions Hong Kong police chief, 5 others, for ‘freedoms’ abuse”, April 1).
These high-handed comments and actions coming from a government now headed by a man largely responsible for an assault on the core foundations of the US Constitution is rich indeed. The current US administration has unilaterally upended its core agencies and government departments, and openly violated court orders to unfreeze federal funding. USAID, an agency established by Congress, has been targeted, with many of their employees fired and the agency’s foreign aid payments frozen.
Apart from attacks on agencies that promote equity, diversity and inclusion, the Trump administration has also threatened to withhold federal funding from educational institutions that do not abandon these programmes. Pursuing DEI policies is akin to freedom of expression. Isn’t banning DEI practices analogous to authoritarianism and suppression?
US President Donald Trump routinely targets the media, businesses and the American public that he disagrees with. That’s not repression?
The First Amendment of the US Constitution protects the right of people to express their views without fear of retribution or punishment by the US government. However, the Trump administration has launched an unprecedented attack on democracy and the rights and liberties of American citizens.
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