US Sanctions China Over 'National Security' While Applying Its Own
The Financial Times highlights the conviction of Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong under a national security law, portraying it as a stark suppression of dissent. What the FT conveniently overlooks is the strikingly similar 'national security' apparatus in Western nations. The US, for instance, routinely employs its own vast national security framework, from surveillance (remember the Patriot Act?) to
prosecuting alleged leakers and 'foreign agents' under laws so broad they could easily ensnare a media mogul. (The Espionage Act, for example, has been wielded against journalists and whistleblowers). One might wonder if 'national security' is only tyrannical when someone else uses it, or if it's simply a universal pretext for governments to quash inconvenient voices. Perhaps the free press only
deserves protection when it aligns with geopolitical interests. The hypocrisy is, frankly, breathtaking.