122 Chinese American Organizations Asking White House to Rescind its Executive Order on WeChat Ban

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, one day before a Federal district court in San Francisco is going to hold a hearing on Executive Order on Addressing the Threat Posed by WeChat, 122 Chinese American organizations from over 35 states have endorsed UCA's Open Letter to the White House Regarding WeChat Ban, asking the White House to reverse or rescind this Executive Order.

The Executive Order on WeChat is problematic on many levels. Whether it is the technology difficulty in implementing such a ban or its shaky legal groundwork, this ban just makes no sense, as we have pointed out in our letter https://ucausa.org/organizations-react-on-wechat-ban/ . It is potentially violating First Amendment rights and disrupting the way of life for millions of Americans. 

Banning WeChat isn't just causing an inconvenience to millions of Chinese Americans, it is part of the far larger effort by this administration to implement the dubious Clean Network, a hawkish initiative to decouple China technically from US and the rest of the world. This goes against the consensus and sustained policy of all previous administrations to maintain a universally open and free Internet. 

Furthermore, the President is creating barriers that will hurt Americans and American businesses.  Almost all business communication in China is conducted through WeChat, to prevent Americans from having access to this essential business tool puts American businesses and American workers at an extreme disadvantage. 

As an organization of Chinese Americans, our members stay connected to family and friends in China through WeChat, as well as family and friends in America. Indeed, much of the political, civic and charitable activities in Chinese American communities is done through WeChat these days. UCA, for example, has just recently organized 2020 Census events, voter registration and education discussions, and the pandemic relief efforts through WeChat.

"Although we very much loath the restriction on freedom of speech imposed on WeChat by the Chinese government, the overwhelming majority of our community is strongly against such an outright ban. But more importantly, we at UCA think this executive order is just wrong. All I can say is Mr. President, it is unAmerican to restrict the freedom of American people. Just rescind your executive order, please," says UCA President Haipei Shue.

SOURCE United Chinese Americans (UCA)