China’s Pattern of Bad Behavior

As pandemics go, Covid-19 is one for the history books. However, before political interest in China’s handling of the virus dissipates, western intelligence analysts need to consider what lessons the world can learn from this latest tragedy. The recent behavior of China’s political elites is not an isolated incident in poor decision making. It follows a long pattern of aggression and a lack of understanding in the modern nation-state system.

President Xi Jinping and the CCP have consciously and consistently ignored internationally accepted norms of behavior over the last decade. The country has acted overly aggressive toward its own people, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other countries across the globe, often without rebuke from world leaders or international organizations. Earlier this week China boasted, although incorrectly, that it chased an American military ship out international waters in the South China Sea. The ruling CCP also bypassed the Hong Kong City legislature by announcing plans to carry through on an excessively harsh sedition and subversion national security law for Hong Kong which, in essence, breaks Beijing’s 1997 joint declaration to respect Hong Kong’s autonomy for 50 years. At the recent annual meeting of the National People’s Congress, it rubber-stamped a 6.6% increase it the country’s military budget, according to press reports on Tuesday. The examples are numerous and egregious.

While the eyes of the world are on the suffering caused by the Wuhan virus, China is using it as cover and an opportunity to further its international goals. Western journalists from major American newspapers reporting the truth are kicked out of the country. There is no free press in a communist country.

After the initial release of the virus, whether by accident or deliberate act, China had an opportunity to halt its spread. It failed to act as a responsible member of the international community of nations. Instead, President Xi made the decision not to stop the virus from crossing China’s borders by allowing infected persons on international flights leaving the country. China is following a somewhat desperate, long-term, plan to gain hegemonic status among the most powerful nations of the world.

As Sun Tzu said 2,500 years ago, to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill. President Xi and the leadership in the CCP have taken it to heart. While the world is reeling from the release of the COVID-19 virus, China is breaking the west’s resistance without raising a gun. Its propaganda arm spins story after story.

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When it became obvious China was to blame for the uncontrolled spread of the virus it tried to deflect the obvious and claim the US military created, and then planted, it in China to hurt the communist giant. When that propaganda effort failed numerous high-level officials, including Foreign Minister Wang Yi, came out with statements saying that Washington was pushing the two countries to the brink of a new Cold War.

In a Wednesday press briefing, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs David Stillwell, responded saying that the United States does not like what it is seeing in China. “So given the massive dislocations that have been brought on globally by China’s mishandling of what should have been a minor public health issue in Wuhan, the world right now is focused on survival, not focused on Hong Kong. It appears that Beijing has used this opportunity to accelerate its agenda going into its next political season.”

The Trump Administration is not giving China a free pass on the pandemic or on recent events involving Hong Kong. The US Navy is conducting freedom of navigation operations in international waters in the South China Sea. American diplomats are holding China accountable. Stillwell said that the more the world stands up and is counted and says “…you need to live up to your commitments and follow through on agreements, obviously the more impactful this action will have.” It appears the United States, and hopefully the rest of the world, is waking to the danger posed by the communist giant.

DARIA NOVAK served in the United States State Department during the Reagan Administration, and currently is on the Board of the American Analysis of News and Media Inc., which publishes usagovpolicy.com and the New York Analysis of Policy and Government. Each Friday, she presents key updates on China.

Illustration: Pixabay

Quick Analysis

Why the Electoral College is Vital

Proposals for radical alterations in the way Americans vote are dangerous concepts that would have dramatic consequences for the nation and its Constitution. Some, such as ranked choice voting, are an unblushing bid to prop up fringe, leftist candidates. Others. if adopted, would essentially disunite the nation and overturn its Constitution. As they consistently have after each election loss, Democrat spokespeople have flooded the airwaves with complaints about the Electoral College. Why, they ask, can’t we have a “popular vote,” and let it be done with. Since the Electoral College process is part of the original design of the U.S. Constitution, it would be necessary to pass a Constitutional amendment to change this system. The National Archives notes that over the past 200 years more than 700 proposals have been introduced in Congress to reform or eliminate the Electoral College. There have been more proposals for Constitutional amendments on changing the Electoral College than on any other subject. The answer is as simple as the name of the country: The United States of America. The incredibly successful nation created almost two and a half centuries ago was a union of separate states. Fresh off of dealing with a monarch, it was intentionally set up that way to both prevent the possibility of having an all-powerful dictator, and to prevent larger states from bullying smaller ones. Abolishing the electoral college would essentially disenfranchise smaller states from having any say in the presidency. Indeed, even less populated areas of large states would lose influence. A collection of large cities, (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Philadelphia, San Antonio, San Diego, Dallas, Austin, Jacksonville, etc.) would decide the outcome in who gets the White House. Considering how badly many of those urban centers are run, that would not bode well for the future of the country! Beyond the practical policy implications, it would alienate the populations of those not living in California, Texas, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, who would, for the most part, be reduced to bystanders in the race for the only nationally-elected position. A Heritage study analyzed the concept of a “National Popular Vote” (NPV) this way: “The National Popular Vote (NPV) plan is the latest in a long line of schemes designed to replace the Electoral College. Imbued with the ideals of this nation’s Founders, the Electoral College has proved itself to be both effective in providing orderly elections for President and resilient in allowing a stable transfer of power of the leadership of the world’s greatest democracy. Therefore, while it would be a mistake to replace the Electoral College, replacing this system with the NPV would be a disaster. The NPV would devalue the minority interests that the Founders sought to protect, create electoral administrative problems, encourage voter fraud, and radicalize the U.S. political system. It also would likely violate the U.S. Constitution’s Compact Clause while directly contravening the Founders’ view of federalism and a representative republic. In an age of perceived political dysfunction, effective policies already in place—especially successful policies established by this nation’s Founders, such as the Electoral College—should be preserved.” Trent England, writing for the National Conference of State Legislatures outlined key reasons for the institution: “At the Constitutional Convention, the primary concern of delegates opposed to direct election was that big states would dominate presidential politics. By using a two-step election process, the Electoral College prevents one region, or a handful of major metropolitan areas, from controlling the White House. Support must be geographically distributed around the country in order to win enough states to capture an electoral vote majority. This was particularly important after the Civil War. The nation remained divided, and Democrats became dominant in the south. A combination of intense popularity with some voters and violent suppression of others allowed Democrats to receive the most popular votes in 1876 and 1888 even though they lost the Electoral College and thus those elections.” Eliminating the Electoral College would be a disaster for the United States/