It’s easy to dismiss Attorney General Bill Barr as just another Trump toadie, but he has given a very important speech that breaks new ground in the American government’s apparent bid to rally an effective response to Xi Jinping. Watch it here.
Barr, who has a master’s degree in Chinese studies, accuses Xi of launching an “economic blitzkreig” and talks about the Made in China 2025 program, the BRI and other well-documented Chinese tactics, many of which I described in The New Art of War more than a year ago.
Where Barr breaks new ground is by arguing that U.S. companies are “kowtowing” to Beijing. He says Chinese government entities are approaching American businesses and urging them to shape U.S. governmental policy. He says China has “masked its presence in U.S. politics” that way. He uses the term “corporate appeasement.”
I have suspected for some time that pressure was going to build on big American companies with large presences in China and it seems that day has arrived. Barr urges the private sector to collaborate with the U.s. government to respond to the Chinese and to remember that they must be loyal to American interests and are not just “global citizens.”
It may seem strange to hear, but I agree with a lot of Bill Barr has to say. I wouldn’t accuse American companies of “appeasement” but they are in increasingly tough positions. After recent speeches from National Security Advisor O’Brien and FBI Director Wray, Barr says Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State, is also going to give a speech in coming days regarding China. So far, the rhetoric is heating up but there’s not much evidence of a tangible policy response. The floundering over how to develop an American-friendly champion in 5G telecommunications is just one case in point. If American officials believe that “naming and shaming” Xi’s government will alter its behavior, they are sadly mistaken.
