For decades, U.S. policy toward China has centered on the hope that engagement, aid and trade would encourage the reform of China’s repressive communist regime. The idea was that access to America, and exchanges on many levels, would help inspire a peaceful evolution in China from a destitute tyranny to a prosperous, open and responsible partner in world affairs.
That approach has failed. China has become far wealthier, enjoying an economic rise since the 1990s unrivaled in modern history. But politically China carries on as a brutal tyranny, leveraging its access in order to infiltrate, pilfer, manipulate and subvert America and our democratic allies.
Among China’s 1.4 billion people there have been many signs over the years of tremendous yearning for freedom and democracy, but the ruling Communist Party has displayed no interest in giving up its monopoly on power. China has increasingly been channeling its growing resources and reach into the Communist Party agenda to become the world’s dominant power by the year 2049 — the 100th anniversary of Mao’s founding of the communist People’s Republic of China.
The coronavirus pandemic, which began late last year in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has thrown into sharp focus the rising threat that China poses to America and our allies. China’s handling of the outbreak has been a blitz of lies, misdirection, and malign intent. While the world has been reeling from the pandemic, China has been seeking ways to exploit the resulting chaos and costs to others, accelerating its plans for dominance.