America at a Crossroads in the Face of Growing CCP Threat

Commentary

America today is at a crossroads—something realized by people on both sides of the political spectrum.

The most important issues for American voters in 2024 are inflation and prices (25 percent), immigration (11 percent), health care (10 percent), and jobs and the economy (10 percent), according to a survey by Statista. In short, voters are most concerned about the economy!

As researchers in business and economics, however, my colleagues and I often seek factors outside of the economy to find the true, underlying causes that either stimulate or stifle growth.

We often go so far as to identify the philosophical, ideological, and international factors that contribute to the economic well-being of a nation—because the way we think, what we believe, and how we behave, as well as how we interact with other countries, do indeed affect our economy, our way of life, and our cost of living.

What I observe is an increased concern among Americans about both the external threat from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as well as an internal threat in the form of communist subversion threatening our way of life.

This concern is especially notable among minority groups, namely, the Cuban, the Chinese, and the Vietnamese American communities. The reason for that is simple. Many from these communities came to America in their youth or adulthood after fleeing or leaving socialist and communist societies.

Based on their lived experience, they do not want to live under such a society again. Yet for many Americans, who don’t have this first-hand experience, their perception of socialism and communism is mostly shaped by textbooks and media.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the communist takeover of China. When asked about how the Chinese communist regime has been able to last this long when the Soviet Union is long gone, Columbia University professor Andrew Nathan attributed this to China’s “economic growth” leading to the rise in the standard of living, especially over the past two to three decades.

But how was that actually achieved? It was because the United States opened its market, provided the technology, and lent the management skills that helped to save China from the economic collapse in the aftermath of the Great Cultural Revolution. In 2001, the United States allowed China to join the World Trade Organization (WTO). Not only did the United States fail to take advantage of the demise of the Soviet Union and the Eastern European Communist Bloc, but it also failed to continue its victorious feast to eradicate communism completely around the world.

On the contrary, the United States and the West have provided political support, economic support, markets for trade, and even military technology and cooperation to allow the Chinese communist regime to survive and take the opportunity to develop and grow. In the end, it backfired on the United States and the West, and now it has become a major problem for the U.S.

To the dismay of many in America, we helped CCP, but we created a monster, which has now become stronger and more aggressive and ever more hostile to the West.

Meanwhile we are allowing the CCP to subvert America by letting this Communism ideology to creep into America in a bid to destroy us.

Dr. John J. Mearsheimer is a chair professor in international relations at University of Chicago, well know for his “offensive realism” theory. He describes the interaction between great powers as being driven primarily by the rational desire to achieve “regional hegemony” in a leaderless international system. According to his theory, Mearsheimer believes that China’s growing power is likely to bring it into conflict with the United States.

In his book “The Great Delusion – Liberal Dreams and International Realities,” Mearsheimer believes that America’s “liberal hegemony” has now failed.

Liberal hegemony means that the United States, as a country that pursues liberalism, seeks to promote this social concept based on Western democracy and freedom to other countries and regions through the United States’ regional and global hegemony.

Because of the failure of U.S. liberal hegemony, coupled with the rise of nationalism in various countries, as well as the role of the United States in the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, and U.S. foreign policy in Ukraine and the Middle East, coupled with the expansion of NATO, and the rise of Russia and China, it has caused our world to transform from unipolar to multipolar.

In a time like this, with a multipolar world, it is even more important for America to have clear leadership in world power diplomacy.

The rise of China and the resurgence of Russian power mean that liberal hegemony is gradually disappearing, and the United States now faces two potential rivals that may be equally competitive.

One of the reasons why I agree with Professor Mearsheimer’s assessment, is that in the disputes between the United States, China, and Russia, the United States should work with Russia, which has already denounced Communism, rather than exclude Russia and push it towards the Chinese, to jointly deal with the greatest enemy of humanity: the Chinese Communist regime.

Tariffs imposed on China under the Trump administration and carried on by the Biden administration are tough measures against China—whoever wins this election should continue and finish this strategic economic showdown with China.

In Mearsheimer’s view, liberalism is being defeated by nationalism.