Flag burning and freedom of speech in the US and Hong-Kong

I have been having a discussion with a friend in China who is a professor of public administration about Hong-Kong. He said wasn't it of course justified for the Chinese government to prohibit insults to the Chinese flag. In the US you believe in freedom but you would never allow this, he said. Actually, I pointed out, during the protests against the war in Vietnam in the 1960s some students burned the US flag. A few local governments made flag burning illegal, but the courts ruled that these laws violated the constitutional protections for free speech. These laws no longer exist. It is fully legal to insult or even burn the US flag. He never responded to my observation.

#HongKong #China #freedomofspeech #flagburning