By Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

I generally believe free trade can point an authoritarian country like China in the direction of freedom and free markets. One downside, however, is that both sides can be influenced.

On Oct. 4, Daryl Morey, the general manager of the NBA’s Houston Rockets, tweeted seven words: “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.”

China was offended, and the backlash was immediate. The Chinese Basketball Association ended its relationship with the Rockets, which had been the most popular NBA team in China because star Yao Ming played there. Already scheduled preseason games in China between the Los Angeles Lakers and New Jersey Nets were taken off Chinese television. Corporate sponsors withdrew, and their names were scrubbed from the floor.

The response by many in the NBA was … less than courageous. Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta said Morey does not speak for the team, and Morey deleted the tweet and apologized. The NBA initially called Morey’s tweet “regrettable” and declared its “great respect for the history and culture of China.”

Then NBA Commissioner Adam Silver backtracked with a second statement that affirmed Morey’s right to express himself. China’s state TV response was this: “We’re strongly dissatisfied and oppose Adam Silver’s claim to support Morey’s right to freedom of expression. We believe that any remarks that challenge national sovereignty and social stability are not within the scope of freedom of speech.”

Let that sink in.

As for more recognizable names, Rockets star James Harden apologized to China, LeBron James called Morey “either misinformed or not really educated,” and Golden State Warriors Coach Steve Kerr dodged the question. Those responses were disappointing coming from James and Kerr, who regularly speak their views regarding domestic social issues. James last year had tweeted “Injustice Anywhere Is A Threat to Justice Everywhere.” By the middle of this week, he said he was finished talking about China.

Meanwhile, Nike pulled Houston Rockets merchandise from stores in Beijing. That’s the same company that made former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who is out of football because he knelt during the national anthem, a spokesman with the tagline, “Believe in something, even if it costs you everything.” So what does Nike believe about China?

All of this is happening because China has 500 million NBA fans – more than there are people in the United States. It puts the NBA and Nike in an awkward position when they decry injustice in America but – because of money – dance around what’s happening in the land of Tiananmen Square. For those who are “misinformed or not really educated,” Chinese leader Xi Jinping last year was named president for life, Chinese Christians are routinely persecuted, and many Uighurs and other Muslims are being “reeducated” in Communist Party indoctrination camps.

America has played ball with dictators before. It was allied with Soviet butcher Joseph Stalin during World War II. But I’m not sure if it’s ever had a relationship like its co-dependent one with China. Our two cultures share a love for making money, but we diverge when it comes to freedom and human rights. The result is they make our stuff cheaply and we buy it, which can’t last forever. The Apple laptop on which I’m writing this column was made in China, along with a lot of other stuff I own but don’t really need. Not coincidentally, more than $1.1 trillion of the U.S. national debt is owed to the Chinese.

Meanwhile, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has made opening doors to Chinese businesses part of his economic development strategy. The centerpiece is a $1.5 billion Shandong Sun Paper pulp mill in Arkadelphia that will employ 250 people earning an average of $52,000 a year.

Assuming the plant opens, those will be good jobs for the people who fill them, and I’m not saying the United States should build economic walls to keep out the Chinese. Free trade has helped create a more open China. Decades ago, it was a murderous, closed totalitarian regime akin to North Korea today, but on a much larger scale. Today it would better be described as repressive. During the Korean War, Americans and the Chinese were killing each other. So compared to all that, things have improved.

But we should be wary that influence goes both ways, and we surely shouldn’t owe China $1.1 trillion. If it can silence an NBA executive over a tweet, what will it do next?