New US Anti-Communist Regulations Are Absurd

On Dec. 3, the United States State Department issued a statement restricting the travel of Chinese Communist Party members and their immediate families to the U.S., reducing the time that these Chinese visas are valid from 10 years to one month. The current U.S. government’s China-related policies have taken another step toward irrationality. This new anti-China measure has no bottom line or moral center, and not only reveals the closed and conceited nature of the current U.S. administration, but reflects the racism and ideological ills of U.S. foreign policy. Such defective policies lead to antagonism rather than compromise.

First of all, the current U.S. administration fundamentally lacks the attitude required to truly understand the CCP. Their understanding that “the CCP does not represent the people” and “China subverts the international order” is completely wrong. The legitimacy of the CCP is based on a history of leading the country to independence and prosperity as well as working wholeheartedly for the well-being of the Chinese people. Popular support for the CCP is stable and solid.

China has also absolutely not pursued a policy of forcing other countries to accept the Chinese model of “subverting the international order.” Instead, by constantly improving its own system of governance, China has inspired other countries to find a path toward development that fits their own national conditions. The current U.S. administration is trying to demonize the CCP and China in order to dismantle the support and understanding that the Chinese people and other countries hold for the CCP and all of China. This is done to incite an atmosphere of hostility toward China in public forums. This psychology of racial superiority and ideological prejudice is indeed very American, fitting with the history of white supremacist practice of suppressing native Americans. But with the tide of multiculturalism and globalization, the current group of U.S. white supremacists’ slander about the CCP and China will only hurt them, and they will ultimately end up alone.

Second, the current U.S. administration has no intention of understanding China at all. In a vast and populous China, stability has always been the most important prerequisite for ensuring protection and development. China’s thousands of years of historical tradition and political culture have shown repeatedly that one of the keys to achieving lasting stability is that there must always be a strong central government. For over 70 years, the CCP’s governance has ensured stability. Thus, the longevity of the CCP’s leadership has always had a solid legitimate foundation in China.

Currently, some of the U.S. political elite are trying to differentiate between the CCP and the Chinese people, promoting the preposterous argument that weakening the CCP will ensure China’s long-term development. The purpose of this argument could not be more obvious. What are the actual consequences of this logic employed in the U.S.? It is nothing short of dstroying China’s ability to govern itself, and create chaos in the country, followed by the decline of China’s national power and influence. The actual goals of this slander are both to attack the CCP and to weaken China. The long-held thinking and political orientation of such people is to avoid forming lasting commitments with great powers with different political systems and conflicting ideologies. They are so paranoid, and their understanding of China is so superficial, that they are doomed to fail in positioning and implementing these policies toward China.

Third, the current U.S. administration fundamentally lacks an accurate grasp of current trends. It is still stubbornly clinging to the idea of fate: that different political systems will inevitably fall into direct confrontation. It is still trapped in the outdated idea that the transfer of power in the world will inevitably lead to conflict or war. This view is rooted in an understanding of the dynamics of 19th century continental European autocratic monarchies and 20th century Nazi Germany and the Communist Soviet Union, in which the thinking was that no two systems of governance could stand; one must die so the other could survive. The U.S. has always conceived of itself as having the moral high ground, and it is with this thinking that the administration understands China today.

The U.S. self-righteously believes that in historic confrontation with those countries its victory was preordained, and that this fate will be revealed once again in a conflict with China. The U.S. administration can hardly imagine that the United States itself is becoming increasingly associated with the dangerous conditions of those countries. The times have changed, so thinking and actions must also change. The current U.S. administration and some of the political elite have obviously failed to develop an understanding of how others see them, and have failed to understand China. The openness sustained by the CCP and the related policies that adhere closely to the tide of globalization and modernization all determine the integration and development of mutually beneficial relationships between China and other countries. The current U.S. government stubbornly pursues policies of trade protectionism and resists globalization, which is leading the world toward greater instability. This stands in stark contrast to China’s staunch policies of multilateralism and economic globalization, which have brought about regional and global inclusion. A comparison between the Chinese and U.S. management of the pandemic shows that the times are on China’s side, not on the side of the current U.S. administration.

It should be noted that there are 92 million members of the CCP. If family members are included, this is a massive group involving at least 300 million people. Supposing that the current U.S. government fully implements the restrictive measures mentioned in this statement, there will be another absurd waste of U.S. federal government resources similar to resources directed at building a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. The top priority of the current U.S. administration should be to pool government and societal resources to combat the pandemic and restore the economy as quickly as possible, rather than unscrupulously trying to create a conflict with a peaceful China. The current U.S. administration has already lost the ability to judge key American interests, and its policies toward China have fallen into a state of extreme psychological imbalance, revealing a rare glimpse of the dangers of extremism. U.S. policy toward China is once again facing a critical crossroads. Hopefully the future U.S. administration can view itself, China and the world in a rational and moderate manner, meet China in the middle, and collectively endeavor to move toward a long-lasting, stable and prosperous international order.