The New York Times and other news outlets are reporting on economic distress in some pockets of the Chinese economy. One of the core reasons for that distress is that President Xi Jinping is ideologically a Marxist-Leninist. He does not believe in private enterprise or consumer spending. In his view, the state, guided by the Communist Party, should be driving the nation’s economy. Anyone who disagrees will simply suffer the consequences. Chinese leaders over the centuries have consistently demonstrated that they will pursue their goals of glory and domination and are not deterred by the suffering of their people.
The problem as I see it is that the news media’s concentration on China’s economic pain is leading to pieces such as this one in today’s Times by Bret Stephens. It is filled with misconceptions about Xi Jinping’s determination to help his socialist China triumph over the capitalistic West led by the United States. That is his goal. “We should not seek a new cold war with China,” Stephens writes. But Xi’s behavior is clearly aimed at undermining America, at home and abroad. His party-state appears to have accelerated its cyber strategy by sending spy balloons over the United States and hacking the communications systems of the State and Commerce departments, as well as the U.S. military. The goal, as first articulated in The Art of War, “is to win the war without fighting.” Whatever one chooses to call this confrontation, it is real and it is getting worse.
“The best response to China’s economic woes is American economic magnanimity,” Stephens continues. “That could start with the removal of the Trump administration tariffs that have done as much to hurt American companies and consumers as they have the Chinese.” That’s highly debatable. Tariffs are not a good thing but sometimes they become necessary.
Here’s the grand finale: “Whether that will change the fundamental pattern of Beijing’s bad behavior is far from certain. But as China slides towards crisis, it behooves us to try.”
Earth to Stephens: No, removing tariffs would not alter the fundamental pattern. Xi Jinping is fully committed to his vision of the “Chinese dream,” i.e. China being the dominant power in the world. And China is not “sliding toward crisis.” Xi Jinping retains the power to crush domestic dissent as he has done to the Tibetans and is now doing to the Uighurs. His authoritarian surveillance state is in absolute control. I have previously called Stephens “pudding headed.” And the pudding is getting stale. What America needs is to recognize the pattern of what Xi is attempting to achieve and to defend our own decision-making systems from Chinese hacking and espionage.
