Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) recently said, “We hold China as a potential trading partner, as a country that has pulled tens of millions of people out of poverty in a short period of time, and as a country growing into a respectable nation amongst other nations … I deeply believe that.”
Shockingly, Feinstein’s full-throated defense of Communist China occurred during a Senate hearing about a bill that would authorize U.S. citizens to sue the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for damages wrought by China’s mishandling of and outright lies concerning the coronavirus.
Lest we forget, the CCP repeatedly lied about the early outbreak of the coronavirus in Wuhan. And CCP leaders allowed international flights from Wuhan to continue well after the outbreak while simultaneously banning domestic travel from Wuhan. China initially lied about the coronavirus to the entire world while ensuring it spread from Wuhan to the rest of the world. And while this was taking place, China hoarded much-needed personal protective equipment (PPE). China then sold its surplus PPE at sky-high prices, knowing that the world was in desperate need. Oh, and to make matter worse, China even sold shoddy PPE that did not meet international standards.
Sen. Feinstein, China is far from a “respectable nation.”
Incredibly, Feinstein’s assessment of China has become somewhat standard among liberals, progressives, and socialists. In fact, many on the Left have praised China, holding it up as an example of what a successful state-controlled economy can achieve.But if China is a “successful” example of socialism, I would hate to see what these people think an example of “unsuccessful” socialism looks like.
Last I checked, China is essentially an authoritarian dictatorship in which its citizens are at the mercy of the CCP in virtually every way. From enslaving millions of Uighurs to its Orwellian social credit system and its outrageous one-child policy, China is far from “respectable.”
Further, China seems hellbent on instigating a new Cold War with the West. Instead of a nuclear weapons stand-off, however, China appears to have set its sights on a battle for global (and even space) technological supremacy. And to win this battle for the ages, China has no scruples with stealing as much intellectual property and as many trade secrets it can get its hands on.
This is why the Chinese consulate in Houston was recently shut down. As it happens, China’s Houston consulate was ground zero in its stealth campaign to topple America’s technological dominance via its go-to tactic: theft.
Despite Feinstein’s comments about China’s soft side, we should all keep in mind that many American progressives professed that the Soviet Union was also destined to be a great nation. Lincoln Steffens famously said, “I have seen the future, and it works,” after visiting the Soviet Union in 1919. Obviously, Steffens was way off. Winston Churchill had a much more realistic view of the Soviet Union, and socialism in general. Churchill famously stated that, “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an Iron Curtain has descended across the continent.”
Churchill was spot-on. Today, there is no Iron Curtain, but there most certainly still is one made of bamboo.
Chris Talgo ([email protected]) is an editor at The Heartland Institute.
PHOTO: China, Provided by Rain Rannu, Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
Chris Talgo ([email protected]) is the editorial director and a research fellow at The Heartland Institute, as well as a researcher and contributing editor at StoppingSocialism.com.
