The schism at the New York Times over China policy continues to deepen. The latest example is this guest essay in today’s Week in Review section entitled “Kissinger Was Right About China, and He Still Is.” First of all, it is written by David Daokui Li, a professor at Tsinghua University in China. He’s a Chinese national and therefore subject to all the censorship and propaganda efforts of the Chinese Communist Party. His argument was that China would never challenge the “rules-based” international order. Meaning, the rules written by the United States and its allies.
Li makes two major obvious errors. Here’s one: “China simply does not appear to have the global ambition, institutional capacity, historical tradition or ideological clarity to replace and behave like the United States of today.” How can Li explain the Belt & Road Initiative that is extending Chinese control of ports and critical infrastructure around the world? How can Li explain the fact that Beijing has militarized the South China Sea, claiming all of it as its own, and is engaged in constant gray zone pressure against the Philippines? Or that China is supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine or that China is buying Iranian oil, enabling the mullahs to fund Hamas and Hezbollah and other proxies?
Here’s a second: “Yes, China has become more powerful and gained more international influence. But Beijing does not participate in any international military conflict.” This completely ignores the fact that China is supporting Russia and Iran in a kind of authoritarian entente. And it ignores the reality of China’s cyber operations, which target American technology but equally importantly, its use of disinformation to exacerbate the divisions in the world’s democracies. Xi Jinping, and his pal Vladimir Putin, are seeking to destroy the world’s democracies without having to engage in a full-scale frontal military conflict. The New York Times has printed stories on its front page (managed by the news department, not the editorial department) that China has planted malware in America’s critical infrastructure, tapped into U.S. military communications in Guam, used Artificial Intelligence to generate false claims that the fires in Maui were the result of a secret U.S. government “weather weapon,” and engaged in many other actions that fall short of the traditional definition of “war” but are clearly aimed at undermining U.S. democracy and national security. Let’s not even talk about TikTok, Huawei or the spy balloon.
In short, the editorial department of The New York Times is trying very hard to avoid facing reality and continues to run puff pieces from people who have clear agendas to win favor with their Communist Party or who lack knowledge about the true patterns of Chinese behavior. The burning question is, Why?
