It’s not often here at LauraLoomer.us that we laud the actions of a Big Tech company in Silicon Valley, but while such companies have become enemies of free speech in the United States, at least one is working on behalf of pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong.
An application called HKmaps, which allows protestors in Hong Kong to see where the local police presence is, and which streets are blocked off, has become the bane of the existence of the Communist Chinese regime, which fired off a seething message at Apple through its state-sanctioned news outlet.
“An article in Chinese state mouthpiece, China Daily, attacks the iPhone maker for reversing an earlier decision not to allow the app to be listed on the iOS App Store — claiming the app is ‘allowing the rioters in Hong Kong to go on violent acts,'” according to TechCrunch.
The application is user-based, which means it allows users to crowdsource information about police presence and helps them effectively protest the overbearing Chinese government. Perfectly demonstrating its level of overbearingness, the regime wants the application removed from the App Store.
“Business is business, and politics is politics. Nobody wants to drag Apple into the lingering unrest in Hong Kong. But people have reason to assume that Apple is mixing business with politics, and even illegal acts. Apple has to think about the consequences of its unwise and reckless decision,” the China Daily said.
“Providing a gateway for ‘toxic apps’ is hurting the feelings of the Chinese people, twisting the facts of Hong Kong affairs, and against the views and principles of the Chinese people,” the story continued. “Apple and other corporations should be able to discern right from wrong. They also need to know that only the prosperity of China and China’s Hong Kong will bring them a broader and more sustainable market.”
Did you hear that? The regime that runs concentration camps and forces children into labor has “hurt feelings.” The statements in China Daily, though, are quite obviously veiled threats against Apple, which conducts a great deal of business in China due in part to that cheap child labor. Due to tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, the company has made some progress in moving its operations back to the United States. Perhaps now is the time to sever ties with the Chinese altogether.
What can the Communist Chinese regime do about this HKmaps problem? As it turns out, they’ve already suggested a solution.
We reported Monday:
The government in Hong Kong is considering cutting off internet access to its citizens in order to halt the pro-democracy protests that have been raging there for months.
“The warning came as the international financial hub remained partly paralysed from three days of protests in which the city’s rail network and business outlets seen as pro-China were badly vandalised,” India’s The Telegraph said. “The surge in protests was in response to the Hong Kong government’s announcement on Friday it would invoke colonial-era emergency laws not used for more than 50 years to ban demonstrators from wearing face masks.”
The situation in Hong Kong is fluid, but could come to a head soon, as the brutal Chinese regime is not known for its patience in cases of dissent.
Peter D'Abrosca is a freelance investigative reporter, author, and conservative political commentator.
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