Name: All-in on Black Lives Matter, US banks are all quiet on the China front
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All-in on Black Lives Matter, US banks are all quiet on the China front

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JP Morgan: "We will decline to comment."Bank of America: No response. Morgan Stanley: No response. Goldman Sachs: No response.That's how those four banks reacted to my question on Thursday as to their position on the new Chinese security law in Hong Kong and whether they are opposed to said law. The recently announced law gives effect to of its treaty obligations under the Sino-British Joint Declaration and its subjugation of Hongkongers .But in the banks' response to my question, we see a rather striking dichotomy between the way in which major American banks are responding to the Black Lives Matter protest movement and Beijing's war on human rights. Indeed, the dichotomy is so striking that only one serious conclusion can be drawn from it.It is that these banks are far less concerned about human rights than they are about public relations in the face of social and media scrutiny.Certainly, there are business interests motivating the show of racial solidarity from CEOs at Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, and Goldman Sachs. These firms rely on a reputation of social responsibility to attract consumers and investors, after all. Their public relations teams will have been advising executives of the need to take defensive action amid rising public anger over George Floyd's death. China's authoritarianism? Not an issue.JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon might be taking for protesters in solidarity with Black Lives Matter, but when it comes to Hong Kong protesters, Dimon has only of his hope that China will avoid "bad outcomes."As he promoted two black executives, CEO James Gorman that "this week will not be easily forgotten in history, and it shouldn’t be. God willing, it will be seen as a turning point in race relations. The pain, fear, sadness, and anger felt by the black community, and also by the vast majority of people globally, is palpable." The pain, fear, sadness, and anger of Hongkongers? Gorman's not so interested in them.Bank of America is providing $1 billion to support racial equality. This noble generosity the "true urgency that has arisen across our nation, particularly in view of the racial injustices we have seen in the communities where we work and live. We all need to do more." Except in Hong Kong, it seems, where we all need to keep quiet and carry on.Similarly, Goldman Sachs's $10 million fund finds no sibling in Hong Kong.I could not find a single condemnation from any bank official over the Hong Kong security law or a serious lament over China's of the Uighur people in Xinjiang province. Nor is there any apparent concern for the Chinese Communist Party's undermining of the U.S.-led democratic order.Perhaps because for these banks, morality walks and money talks. As the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post ,American banks accounted for 5% of the banking sector in the city in 2019, with about US$166 billion in total assets. ... The city also serves as the regional headquarters for Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. JPMorgan’s Asia-Pacific CEO, who oversees 17 markets in the region, is based in Hong Kong. Goldman employs about 1,700 people in Hong Kong. ... Overall, Asia-Pacific accounted for 13 per cent of its revenue last year, or about US$4.65 billion. Morgan Stanley has about 2,000 employees in the city, and Asia-Pacific as a whole accounted for US $5.13 in revenue in 2019, or about 17% of the bank’s total revenue.Morality is cheap and good business when it comes to public relations on American soil. But abroad, beyond the gaze of consumers, these banks tolerate the tyrannical fires of the Chinese dragon in order to fill their coffers.

JP Morgan: "We will decline to comment."Bank of America: No response. Morgan Stanley: No response. Goldman Sachs: No response.That's how those four banks reacted to my question on Thursday as to their position on the new Chinese security law in Hong Kong and whether they are opposed to said law. The recently announced law gives effect to of its treaty obligations under the Sino-British Joint Declaration and its subjugation of Hongkongers .But in the banks' response to my question, we see a rather striking dichotomy between the way in which major American banks are responding to the Black...

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Tom Rogan

The Washington Examiner is an American conservative news website and weekly magazine based in Washington, D.C. It is owned by MediaDC, a subsidiary of Clarity Media Group, which is owned by Philip Anschutz. From 2005 to mid-2013, the Examiner published a daily tabloid-sized newspaper, distributed throughout the Washington, D.C., metro area. The newspaper focused on local news and political commentary. The local newspaper ceased publication on June 14, 2013, whereupon its content began to focus almost exclusively on national politics, switching its print edition from a daily newspaper to a weekly magazine format.

All-in on Black Lives Matter, US banks are all quiet on the China front

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