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 “serious consequences” were promised. The names of the consequences were not known at the time, but we now know.
This is what we have lost, according to Xi’s stenography outlet at the Global Times.
Winston Churchill said that “Jaw-jaw’ is better than war” but it’s hard to see how this could happen. I have never been a fan of the US military establishing lines of communication with Chinese counterparts that go beyond the White House. This was made clear in a shocking and almost treasonous manner by General Mark Milley calling the Chinese to assure them that the US did not intend to attack China. Although I can understand that military talks are intended to minimize the chance of bad things happening inadvertently, I would remind everyone that China is the sole beneficiary of these talks. The 2001 incident in which an EP-3E Aeries intelligence plane was rammed by a Chinese fighter (piloted ironically by Wang Wei), could be attributed to these military talks. This is because the procedures to prevent this from happening were coordinated. In practice, we learn nothing about the Chinese procedures and how we will respond.
Also, the “suspended items” are jokes. When China is responsible for the illegal sale of thousands of tons of Fentanyl in the US, or through the sale of precursors to Mexican cartels’ Mexican cartels, it is impossible to have any other than clownish discussions about “counternarcotics collaboration”. China’s business model relies on the theft of intellectual property. It is not clear that talking to them over dim sum about the matter makes any difference.
China, on the other hand, uses these formal mechanisms to gather intelligence and kill people who are involved in the discussions.
Pelosi and her family are another positive sides to China’s stompy foot rage. While we don’t know the exact nature of the sanctions, we can only hope they cover the financial activities that Paul Pelosi. Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan was not about supporting freedom for the Taiwanese people. This is something I have never been able t shake.
We need to take the lead from ChiComs and start drastically reducing our contact with them. We must control the flow of Chinese students to our universities. Also, we need to make sure that intelligence apparatchiks don’t have the opportunity to watch students. We must onshore critical manufacturing, and enforce strict export controls.
Biden makes it unlikely that this will happen. Joe Biden ordered that the counterintelligence program, which targeted intellectual property theft by ChiCom agents on American campuses, be shut down. Biden spends more time worrying about the compromising material China may have on Hunter and him than he does about our security.
