China is a growing threat that the U.S. cannot afford to ignore.
For decades, U.S. policy toward China has centered on the hope that engagement would inspire peaceful political reform in China.
That approach has failed.
China has enjoyed an economic rise since the 1990s unrivaled in modern history.
But politically, China carries on as a brutal tyranny, leveraging economic power in order to manipulate and subvert America and our allies.
People in China have shown many signs of tremendous yearning for freedom and democracy.
But the ruling Chinese Communist Party has displayed no interest in giving up its monopoly on power.
China explicitly seeks to become the world’s dominant power by 2049.
That will be the 100 year anniversary of Mao’s founding of Communist China.
It is urgent that the U.S. reframe its policies toward China.
A top priority is rebuilding the U.S. military, to better serve as a deterrent to China’s predatory ambitions.
And while free trade is usually ideal, for security reasons the U.S. can no longer afford to rely on China for anything of strategic importance.
We can expose the truth behind China’s torrents of propaganda, and in doing so, talk past China’s government to the Chinese people.
Their freedom, when that day comes, will be the world’s, and America’s, great gain.