The communists in China were furious when word spread that Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker of the House, was planning to visit China as part of her Asia trip. The promised “serious consequences.” The consequences were unnamed at the time the threat was made, but now we know what they had in mind.
According to Xi’s stenography outlet, the Global Times, this is what we lost.
In the words of Winston Churchill, “Jaw-jaw is better than war-war.” That said, it is rather difficult to see how we lose anything worth mentioning. I’ve never been a huge fan of the US military developing lines of communication with their Chinese counterparts that bypass the White House. This was made clear in an almost treasonous manner by General Mark Milley calling the Chinese to assure them that they did not intend to attack China. While I understand the purpose of the military talks is to reduce the risk of bad things happening accidentally, I’d also remind everyone that the only beneficiary of these talks is China. According to theory, this was the case with the EP-3E Aeries spy plane rammed by an EP-3E Aeries fighter, piloted ironically by Wang Wei. However, these talks ensure that procedures were in place to avoid such an incident from ever happening. In practice, the Chinese learn about our procedures and how we will react; we learn jacksh** about how they will respond.
The “suspended” items are jokes as well. You can’t have anything but clownish discussions on “counternarcotics cooperation” when China is the source of the thousands of tons of fentanyl sold illegally in the US, either directly or by selling precursors to Mexican cartels, The business model of China depends upon the theft of intellectual property. Talking with them on the topic over dimsum isn’t going to make any difference.
China, on the other hand uses formal mechanisms to gather intelligence and suborn those involved in discussions.
Another positive aspect of China’s stompy-foot rage is its imposition of sanctions on Pelosi and her family. We don’t know what the sanctions entail, but we can hope that they include the financial activities of Paul Pelosi. I’ve never been able to shake the feeling that Pelosi’s trip was as much about some grift involving stock prices and the international crisis she created as it was about supporting freedom for the people living in Taiwan.
The ChiComs should be taken as a lead and we need to drastically reduce our contact with them. We need to regulate the flow of Chinese students into our universities and devote some serious energy to ensuring that intelligence apparatchiks aren’t seeded to keep an eye on students. It is essential to secure critical manufacturing facilities and enforce strict export control.
Biden has made it clear that there are very few chances of this happening. Joe Biden has ordered the counterintelligence program that targeted intellectual property theft by ChiCom operatives on American campuses shut down; see Joe Biden’s Justice Department Shuts Down China-Focused Counterintelligence Programs Because Hurt Feelings Matter. Biden spends more time worrying about the compromising material China may have on Hunter and him than about security.
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