Reporters asked John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, to give comment on the ongoing protests in China over Xi Jinping’s zero-Covid lockdowns:
Reporter: "What is the president's reaction when he hears protesters in China chant 'freedom' or 'Xi Jinping step down'?"
Kirby: "The president's not going to speak for protesters."
Reporter: "So there's no reaction?"
Kirby: "These protesters are speaking for themselves." pic.twitter.com/Q8Rg0QOx9J
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) November 28, 2022
I think this is the right response. First, if the U.S. is going to make any notable comment at all on foreign demonstrations, it should come from the president or at least the secretary of state, not from John Kirby (no disrespect). Second, it is better to be restrained in these things. China may accuse us of somehow orchestrating these protests, but there is no reason to give them evidence we might have done so. More importantly, it is vital that we do not send the wrong signal to the protesters themselves: that some kind of material support from us may be on the way, if there is no such support.
A friend and interlocutor asked me if that amounts to callously saying, “You’re on your own.” No, but it means recognizing the chilly reality — and the inspiring one — that these protesters are on their own and taking immense risks with their lives.
Ronald Reagan did not voice public support for the Solidarity Movement in Poland until the Kremlin and its puppet government in Poland began cracking down on it in the winter of 1981. A year later, Reagan used his radio address to announce a “Solidarity Day.”
Read M. E. Sarotte’s fascinating history, Not One Inch: America, Russia, and the Making of the Post-Cold War Stalemate for several examples of when Washington had to play cool-headed partner while brave men fought for freedom from the other side of the Iron Curtain.