Kerby Anderson

China has been in the news lately, and not just because of their mishandling of the coronavirus. A number of government officials have been warning of the danger China poses. And before we go any further, we are talking about the Chinese Communist Party and not the good people of China who have little control over what these communist leaders do. FBI Director Christopher Wray gave a shocking presentation earlier this month in which he mentioned that nearly half of all the FBI’s current counterintelligence cases are focused just on China. He described China’s frequent counterattacks, predatory practices, and economic espionage that has resulted in “one of the largest transfers of wealth in human history.” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned the Chinese leaders to back down in their military actions in the South China Sea. “The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire. America stands with our Southeast Asian allies and partners in protecting their sovereign rights to offshore resources.” Attorney General William Barr was not only critical of the Chinese government but of Hollywood and Big Tech for their cooperation with China. “I suspect Walt Disney would be disheartened to see how the company he founded deals with foreign dictatorships of our day.” Of course, he could also have added how the NBA came down on one general manager who posted a tweet supporting Hong Kong. Daniel Blumenthal and Nicholas Eberstadt in a recent column argue that the Communist Chinese Party “is far more powerful today than it was in Mao’s time.” That’s quite a statement, and a reminder that we should ask political candidates if they believe China poses a danger to the US. Already, President Donald Trump and former Vice-President Joe Biden have given vastly different answers to that question. This is an important foreign policy issue for our time.