There was a time where there appeared to be a lot of hope for China and its relations with the West. However, the current Chinese leadership has chosen a course so boldly and clearly, that, barring a major change in policy has put it on course for war with the West.
There was hope in the not so distant memory for China. Economic openness was coming and the government, while essentially fascist rather than communist, for a long while turned at least a bit of the other cheek as Christianity exploded in that nation. Some thought the explosion of Christianity, with economic freedom, would make a new day for China. However, China chose another path in persecuting the church on a level not seen since Mao, tightening their controls on their people, and continuing their one child policy.
To embrace Christianity and classical liberalism would be to admit the fault of the slaughter in Tiananmen Square, a stretch for any thousands year old civilization let alone one that has yet to embrace the ethic of self-reflection, a prostrating nature, and forgiveness of others.
China, like many European nations, actively embraces secular leftism…with a healthy dose of retaining thousands of years of behavior regarding superiority and deception. This its leaders did instead of choosing the entrepreneurial spirit and Christian life. The one child policy of China, which mimics the embrace of abortion but on a more public scale, has only hurt China to where millions of naturally aggressive young men do not have the positive outlet of creation’s beauty that tames them in marriage. When there are tens millions of more men than women of the same age in a nation, those men will strike out with vengeance.
It was to China’s own detriment to have made these choices for allowing Christianity and classical liberal economic and government policies would have not only ensured the survival of that nation but also led it to the predominant place in the world. People in America take note.
Regarding war, those who say, “But there is so much to lose by a major war” are only partially correct. There is much to lose for China in war with the West but that has seldom stopped an aggressor in the past, especially one that displays qualities of a dying nation. Such fears of war did not even stop the nations of Europe as nation after nation piled into what became known as The Great War. Human nature is quite frail and makes for a poor deity in stopping said nature.
Many will continue to criticize President Trump after he has left office but his contribution to the debate on China is already enshrined. Before him, it was not much of a debate at all with politicians of all stripes talking tough about China but embracing, or rather cow towing, to China once in office. It was the same regarding moving the American embassy to Jerusalem and a host of other issues. Trump’s warnings about China were reminiscent of Churchill, though his critics and the establishment of his own party will never give him that credit. Having someone in such great authority telling the truth about China and its ambitions is something we will miss sooner than we thought.
In many ways we already are at war with China, the most noticeable being cyber and economic. Time will tell whether this war gets hotter. Barring a course-altering event, such as the Islamic nations of the world teaming up against China to combat its persecution of the Uyghur and other Muslims, China’s war with the West will only get warmer. Woe to any public figure who denies the reality that it is upon us.