A friend of mine practically begged me to watch O.J.: Made in America, insisting it had much deeper meaning than the subject of murdering his wife and another person. When the verdict came in for the civil case (which O.J. lost), it came in concurrent with the 1996 State of the Union. A clip from that speech showed President Clinton stating, “We need to open a deeper dialogue with China.” How poignant. We have been severely confused about our relationship with this communist country run by dictators. Now there is the current situation regarding COVID-19.
It is evident that listening to the Chinese government is akin to the old saying about teenagers: “How do you know when a teenager is lying? Their lips are moving.”
After much analysis, it is clear that the virus came from a poorly managed lab in Wuhan. I don’t believe the Chinese intentionally let the virus spread from the lab or that it was manufactured there. What no one has asked is why were they studying these viruses for so long? One of their lead doctors had spent 15 years studying these viruses and bats. It is said that the source of the SARS virus was due to similar circumstances (bats). Here is a simple solution that could have been applied: Exterminate them. We kill animals all the time to stop the spread of disease. Bats do have beneficial aspects other than to scare people in horror movies, but not worth saving at times. The Chinese government has been readily able to exterminate humans, but not the bats that are the source of these viruses.
Even though the Chinese did not purposely unleash this pandemic upon the world, they blatantly lied and tried to cover it up. In a rare act of heroism for a mainland Chinese individual, a doctor let the world know of the problem that sadly claimed his life. Another lead doctor involved in the matter has disappeared.
On the other hand, one must ask how did the disease get to Amsterdam, but not Beijing? How did it get to Brazil, but not Shanghai? Just asking.
The question is what we must do moving forward. Mark Steyn reprinted a portion of a column he wrote about SARS in 2003 where he excoriated the Chinese for lying. Nothing has changed with this government, but many political leaders still grovel in their presence. Businessmen flock to their shores to source products, ignoring their evil ways and jeopardizing their own companies due to Chinese pirating of their business practices and secrets.
Let’s address the issue of suing China or asking for reparations. These ideas are just silly. Increasing tariffs is a short-term answer, not a permanent solution. Let’s move on to substantial ideas.
What do we do with the people who defend the despotic Chinese? These political people have been around forever. These are the same types that defended the Soviet Union despite their mass murders and suppression of freedom. They praise China, a country that values virtually none of what is embodied in our Bill of Rights. They allow the Chinese exceptions on how they treat minorities and how they pollute the world and make excuses for them. The people who praise China are the same people that tout the benefits of mass immigration of Muslims – you know, some (certainly not all) of those people who suppress women and torture gays. These people among us who’s hatred of Western culture warrants scorn. Ask them to name one beneficial development from these two cultures in the last half millennium.
Then there are the businesses. These money-groveling souls who defend the Chinese. President Trump was correct to knock the Chinese government back on its heels. This pandemic has displayed how imperative it is to move manufacturing of certain items back to the United States.
We were told we could not produce enough energy sources. That was a lie. Our people miraculously turned on a dime and started manufacturing ventilators. We should never give that business up, and we should steal it from the Chinese worldwide. We don’t need to outsource our medical gowns and face masks to these people. We can make them ourselves. Why should our allies get faulty COVID-19 tests from the Chinese when they can get quality ones from us they can trust?
Here is a real idea. If we need foreign support, set up our supply chains in Mexico and Central America. This will have two benefits. Their people will stay in their countries where they want to be with their families because they now have good paying jobs and these items will be manufactured by reliable friendly sources that will not steal our trade secrets.
There was reasonable explanation for the attempt to work with the Chinese economically. On the other hand, there was always a better reason to look south for compatible countries. We have always had a desire to work with countries in our own hemisphere and the countries on our own continent instead of looking to source these materials across the largest ocean in the world with a dictatorial partner.
If there was ever any proof of how despicable the Chinese are, we learned recently of their treachery regarding PPE. The Chinese demanded statements of praise toward their country by multiple European countries before releasing the supplies to these countries. After Polish President Andrezj Duda praised China, the American ambassador was told “Poland wasn’t going to get this stuff unless the phone call was made, so they could use that phone call.” Do you need any further proof that our supply chains cannot be left in the hands on these people?
Since Nixon opened up China — and then its great economic opening by Xiaoping Deng — we have tried to work with China and bring them into the family of nations. They have duped everyone who works with them and they have tried to bribe countries while they were attempting to subjugate them. This is a country that practices predator economics.
It has become quite evident that this relationship is not working. They demand majority ownership of our companies operating there then steal our trade secrets and create counterfeit goods. They show every intent to threaten their neighbors (our allies) with military action and control of the seas. They continue unbridled manufacturing of the deadliest drug on earth (fentanyl) despite our requests to shut down their plants. They are the main polluter of air and water in the world with reckless abandon. There is very little rationale for anything other than a complete civil distancing from China.
It is time for a quiet, gradual systemic divorce from China. If there are items that our economy
warrant being manufactured in lower wage countries then why not Mexico, Guatemala and/or El Salvador. Nike can make their shoes there and not change time zones. Apple can set up factories there and make their devices with quality people who actually like America and will not steal their technology.
This is our path to divorcing from the Chinese. We gave them five decades to get their act together. They gave us fentanyl and deadly viruses.