“China believes that its rightful place is at the center of the world and views the last 100 years as an aberration it intends to correct.” - @marcorubio #ThrowbackThursday americanmind.org/essays/america…
They have no interest in adhering to the rules of a post-war international system, instead seeking to upend or replace it. They pursued these plans while “hiding their strength & biding their time,” portraying themselves as a poor developing country and a non-expansionist power.
And they succeeded in luring American policymakers into making negligent and catastrophic mistakes. Washington passed financial, trade, tax, and patent laws designed to smooth over the process for companies to open up operations in China.
Multinational corporations headquartered in our country, in search of quick profits, have outsourced the dignified jobs that once sustained Americans to China. And our policymakers rewarded this behavior.
In turn, China would force those American companies to partner w/domestic competitors, which would steal their trade secrets & put them out of business. Washington allowed China into the World Trade Organization. Beijing accepted all the benefits but none of the responsibilities.
And under intense lobbying from companies desperate for access to the enormous Chinese market, Washington did little to call out or address the Chinese Communist Party’s human rights abuses.
Meanwhile, Chinese leaders kept subsidizing their domestic industries while undermining ours. China kept stealing intellectual property & reverse-engineering products. China expanded access to our markets for their companies, while restricting access to their markets for ours.
And China used the profits from these unfair practices to fund substantial investments in research and development of their own...while China has become richer, it has only deepened its authoritarian grip domestically, while flagrantly defying international law and commerce.
