- - Tuesday, June 2, 2020
In any number of 1950s sci-fi films,
alien lifeforms attack, and earthlings realize that what unites them is more
important than what divides them. Over the last few months, we earthlings
actually have been under attack by alien lifeforms, yet we are more divided
than ever.
Instead, China’s Communist mandarins concealed vital
information and outright lied.
Throughout January, they permitted people from
Wuhan to fly around the world. Only at the end of the month was Wuhan locked
down. By then, as The New York Times has reported, “outbreaks were already
growing in over 30 cities across 26 countries, most seeded by travelers from
Wuhan.”
China’s rulers went on to level absurd
allegations. The most offensive: that American soldiers brought the virus to China. They insisted that Taiwan, which knew
a thing or two about what was happening and how best to respond, be ignored by
the World Health Organization, one of several U.N. entities they have
subverted.
You may have missed this: Early on, when the Chinese Communist Party line was that the virus was “preventable and controllable,” European Union member states shipped nearly 60 tons of medical equipment to China.
“Much of this came from national
strategic stockpiles, and it was sent discreetly, at China’s behest,” according to the European
Council on Foreign Relations. “By contrast, when the pandemic arrived in
Europe, the Chinese government made a big show of offering ‘aid’ to Europe —
much of which actually came with a price tag.”
China’s rulers then posed as heroes,
demanding public displays of gratitude. Their claims that Romans sang the
Chinese national anthem from their balconies as a way of saying, “Grazie Cine!”
appear to have been cut from whole cloth.
Over recent days, Chinese Communist
Party Chairman Xi Jinping has rubbed salt into other wounds, precipitating a
border clash with India, escalating threats to Taiwan and taking additional
measures to deprive the people of Hong Kong of rights his government signed a
treaty to guarantee.
Europe’s response has not been forceful.
Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said late last week
that he opposed sanctions or even putting “investment deals” at risk. His only
recommendation was raising issues of concern “in our continuing dialogue with China.”
Beijing’s actions may, however, have
energized the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a low-profile grouping convened
by President Trump in 2017 in response to Beijing’s attempts to infringe
freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. The other members of “the Quad”
are India, Japan and Australia.
A thought: Might it be possible to
expand the Quad into a serious common defense alliance? Could such an alliance
be coordinated with the Trump administration’s new “Economic Prosperity
Network,” whose purpose is to bring “trusted partners” together to accelerate a
post-pandemic economic recovery?
Further down the road, could these
associations develop into a new multilateral organization to which only free
nations (and perhaps those that aspire to be) need apply — an alternative to
the misnamed United Nations?
The U.N. system, it should by now be
obvious, has neither the ability nor the desire to promote freedom and human rights.
Nor is it adept at preventing or settling conflicts. The U.N. General Assembly
is dominated by the envoys of despots. On the Security Council, both Russia and China use their vetoes in support of
oppressive regimes and causes.
What the U.N. and its dozens of affiliated international organizations
have become good at: Spending American money to advance the interests of
America’s adversaries and enemies.
Proposals for a new institution of, by
and for free peoples have been floated in the past by top advisers to both
President Obama and President Clinton. In 2008, John McCain promised he would
create such an organization if elected president. Among the names that have
been suggested: “Concert of Democracies,” “League of Democracies,” “Community
of Democracies” and “Democratic Cooperative Network.”
Let me stop here and acknowledge both
the irony and difficulty of pushing for solidarity among nations that value
human rights at a time when our own nation is so deeply divided. America’s political parties resemble
hostile tribes. And even within those tribes, the various clans — e.g. Trumpers
vs. #NeverTrumpers — are barely on speaking terms.
Adding to this volatile cocktail are the
riots and lootings that have been wreaking havoc in more than a dozen American
cities, and tarnishing peaceful protests over the killing of George Floyd, an
unarmed black suspect, by a Minneapolis police officer who has now been
charged with third-degree murder.
That these fires are being fueled by
Antifa and perhaps other violent extremist groups is certain. Meanwhile, on
social media, Beijing’s propagandists have been gloating. “The oppressed people
in US are begging for China to liberate them from the tyranny
of their brutal police state,” read one of many tweets.
Things could get worse. “To me, current
conditions feel disturbingly similar to things I have seen in Iraq, Lebanon,
Libya, Somalia and Colombia,” soldier/scholar David Kilcullen wrote several
days before the current wave of unrest broke out.
Did China’s Communists intend for alien organisms
to destabilize an increasingly disunited United States? The evidence is
inconclusive. I am confident, however, that they’re shedding no salty tears
over the way things are going.
----------------------------------
• Clifford D. May is founder and
president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a columnist
for The Washington Times.
