London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Jul 23, 2025

Government reactions to George Floyd protests, Tiananmen Square not ‘morally equivalent’, says US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus

In recent days, Chinese officials, social media users and state media have accused the US administration of applying a double standard. Ortagus responds to a provocative tweet by Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying: ‘It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad’

Chinese comparisons of actions by US authorities during the recent American protests with Beijing’s crackdown on Chinese students three decades ago are seriously misguided, the State Department’s top spokesperson said Thursday.

“What we saw in Tiananmen Square 31 years ago was a massacre, a massacre of innocent people that came from Hong Kong but also Chinese people to protest,” said Morgan Ortagus in an interview on the anniversary of the June 4 crackdown in the heart of Beijing.

“We have the right to peacefully assemble in the United States,” she added. “It’s important that we not, especially in the West, not try to have moral equivalency for things that are just not morally equivalent.”

During the interview, Ortagus also commented on Britain’s offer of possible citizenship, her tit-for-tat tweets with a Chinese “wolf warrior” diplomat and the erosion of autonomy signaled by Hong Kong’s decision not to allow a Tiananmen demonstration this year.



In recent days, Chinese officials, social media users and state media have accused the US administration of applying a double standard. They say the US has no right to condemn China’s 1989 Tiananmen student crackdown and those more recently involving Hong Kong demonstrators even as President Donald Trump has called on US governors to “dominate” their cities and pledged to “quickly solve the problem” of unrest with military forces.

For over a week, dozens of US cities have seen at times violent protests and looting following the death of African-American George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota as frustration has welled up after generations of discrimination and inequity.

China watchers in the US have called the timing of the US unrest and Trump’s strong man response “a treasure trove” for Chinese nationalists and a “propaganda field day” for Chinese censors.

A huge difference between the US and China, however, Ortagus said, is that Americans have the right to criticise their government, something rarely allowed in China.

“We will always stand up for rule of law, the right to protest, the right of assembly,” she added. “They also, still to this day, keep at least a million Uygurs if not more, and other ethnic minorities, locked up in what they call re-education camps, simply for the crime of being Muslim, not being Han enough in the eyes of the Chinese Communist Party.”

Ortagus declined to say whether the US would follow London’s lead in allowing Hong Kong residents to relocate. The United Kingdom offered a path to citizenship potentially involving millions of Hongkongers. This follows a US determination last week that the city was no longer autonomous from China after Beijing approved plans for a Hong Kong security law.

“We never preview any policy decisions that we’re making behind the scenes,” the spokeswoman said, although the administration supports London’s move given London’s long historical relationship with Hong Kong, she added.

Analysts said, given Trump’s anti-immigrant bias, they don’t expect the US to follow suit any time soon.

Ortagus added that recent trolling by Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, one of a new generation of “wolf warrior” diplomats, was ironic.

“It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad,” Ortagus said. “Hua Chunying enjoys the freedom of using Twitter because she is a CCP [Chinese Communist Party] official.

“Sadly her fellow citizens don’t have that same freedom and will never see her tweets, unless they leave the country,” she added.
Twitter and most outside media are banned in China’s tightly controlled information ecosystem even as Beijing uses it to reach foreign audiences.

The kerfuffle between the two spokeswomen follows a Hua tweet last weekend reacting to one of Ortagus’ Twitter messages – about how China has reneged on its one nation, two systems pledge to respect Hong Kong independence – with a provocative: “I can’t breathe.”

This phrase was among Floyd’s final words before he died, which have become a rallying cry for US demonstrators.


Analysts said the growing nationalistic tone by some Chinese diplomats is not terribly diplomatic.

“The world has met the wolf warrior diplomat,” said Evan Medeiros, a senior fellow at Georgetown University and a former National Security Council official. “And she’s howling louder than ever.”

Ortagus said the US was “greatly concerned” with the Hong Kong government’s decision not to let demonstrators mark the Tiananmen anniversary for the first time since tanks rolled into the square three decades ago. “We have to recognise reality,” she added. “It is now one country, one system.”

Analysts said Chinese and American diplomats have a tough job these days as relations plummet. “They’re obligated to defend what is very difficult to defend,” said Yun Sun, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center, a Beijing native. “On that, they’re probably in the same difficult spot.”

But Ortagus is on solid ground when she disavows comparisons between the US reaction to its unrest with the Tiananmen crackdown and Beijing’s tightening grip over Hong Kong, Sun added.

“As [former] president [Barack] Obama said yesterday, protest is healthy. The US as a country started with protest and a revolution,” she added. “The difference is tremendous.”




Others said the world would not know much about the tragic Tiananmen crackdown without the Western media, which rather ironically Beijing is relying on for its propaganda.

“Coverage by the US media of the present day protests across the US provide China with the images to craft their narrative moving forward,” said Andrew Mertha, director of the China studies programme at Johns Hopkins University.

The gist of that narrative, Mertha added, is: “look at the instability following poor leadership in the US compared with the stability fashioned by Xi Jinping’s approach to governance,” referring to the Chinese president.

False equivalents aside, however, analysts said global diplomacy is often as much about perception as facts. And by that measure, Washington does look hypocritical.

“The US looks anti-democratic, not living up to its values, including its annual condemnation of Tiananmen,” said Medeiros. “That is a perception problem that the US has to fix, and sooner rather than later.”




Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
×