ROBERT SONG WRITES (courtesy the Korea Times, Seoul) — As the world grapples with the virus originated in China, an ominous dark cloud of worsening U.S.-China relations looms over the global arena.
From human rights abuses, to unfair trade practices, to unlawful militarization of the South China Sea to thousands of intellectual property (IP) thefts, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) malfeasance has become increasingly put on display and criticized openly by governments around the world.
Most governments, too afraid of a CCP backlash, have been mostly reticent, but refreshingly, U.S. officials have come forward with harsh condemnation followed by a wakeup call to action.
There was FBI Director Christopher Wray’s speech on the CCP’s relentless IP theft amounting to nearly 2,500 court cases in process now, followed by Attorney General William Barr’s speech focusing on the economic nefarious activities of the CCP which has crippled the U.S. manufacturing base and also stolen entire industries such as pharmaceuticals and rare metals.
These speeches were followed by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s speech which covered a much broader scope of topics in which the CCP’s war with the U.S. in terms of economics, information and politics were exposed. His speech was magnificent and recounted numerous points of factual data on how the CCP has been “raiding the U.S., not trading with the U.S.”
Most people and governments would agree with the statements made by Pompeo but there are some “panda huggers” who would disagree. Recently, a column written by Tom Plate appeared in this newspaper in the Opinion section, and I was disappointed to read such an opinion.
For example, Plate asked this question, “Is China really Pompeo’s primary problem at the moment?” as if to imply that there were other more important issues facing the U.S.
It is a widely held opinion that the CCP is an existential threat to the U.S. and much of the world. They have openly stated their desire to dominate the U.S. and then the rest of the world in a brutally honest manner. Thus, above all else, the CCP threat must be top priority as it affects all sectors of life, especially economics, military and politics.
Plate goes on to write sympathetically, “China has its own set of stories to tell but doesn’t seem to know how to tell them, or at least how to sell them, particularly in the U.S.”
China’s stories are based on ruthless communist values which no country wants to buy unless at the end of a gun barrel or bribed with mountains of cash which is happening in their debt diplomacy programs in many countries. Chinese communists have killed over 60 million of their own people over the years. Some story.
Further along, Plate writes, “On the contrary, it might be a better world if there was value attached to at least listening to what China has to say, and perhaps learning something by at least trying to understand the other side.”
This type of logic only works when your counterpart plays by the same rules and keep to agreements. China is famous for hardly keeping to the rules and breaking more agreements than keeping them. Look at the South China Sea. The listening to China period is over. Decoupling from China must begin.
Plate goes on to write, “Reagan repeatedly used the mantra, “trust, but verify” with the Russians. Pompeo takes it further: “Distrust and verify.” That’s progress?” Yes, Plate, that is called learning from your mistakes. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. Well, with the CCP, the world has learned that their dishonesty and aggressive behavior can only be dealt with by this new dictum.
The best was saved for last when Plate writes, “Polls on the mainland report that most Chinese are happy enough with their government.”
Anyone with any idea of what life in China is like knows, polls are redundant in China as genuine political opinions are rarely given due to the tough government stance on opposing views. That’s of course unless you are amongst the few that put their necks out and are now in jail or have disappeared.
It seems Plate is either genuinely a fan of communism and believes in the Chinese system or he is like the many due to economic or social reasons, hold a blind eye to the CCP’s evil nature and appease them no matter what they do.
He is a good example of no matter what evil the CCP unleashes, there will always be panda huggers out there. The CCP must be held accountable for all their aggressive and unlawful behaviors especially setting this pandemic onto the world that is ravaging everyone’s life.
Robert Song (robertssong@icloud.com) is a Korean-Canadian business owner in Seoul who is worried about the rise of China’s powers over the years. The views expressed in the above article are the author’s own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times, where this was published earlier this week in reply to columnist and Clinical Prof Tom Plate.