How could China fool America so many times? The old maxim is still true today. You fool me once, shame on you. You fool me two, three, or even four times, then shame on me. America’s senior leaders have been fooled by China since 1949. Let me recount three of the most critical inflection points. There are others that occurred during the last forty years.
1949: Mao Zedong And His Agrarian Reformers
America supported Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek and his Kuomintang (KMT) Party in the Sino-Japanese War from 1937 to 1945. The Generalissimo and his Chinese forces were able to engage Japan in fighting that distracted Japan from her other strategic aims in the Pacific War. The Nationalist forces also had an ongoing civil war with Mao Zedong and his Communists during these years. In 1945, Japan surrendered, and the Chinese Civil War from 1945 to 1949 eventually was won by the Communists and Chiang Kai Shek was forced to flee to Taiwan from the mainland.
Mao Zedong and his communist minions were seen as agrarian reformers by certain officials in America’s State Department and not hardened communists like the Russians. President Truman, General Marshall, and other leaders were inclined to see Chiang and his KMT as corrupt and inept and accepted the takeover of Mainland China by Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and the Chinese Communist Party. From 1949 until the death of Mao, the Communists in following Maoism killed directly or caused the death of approximately 50 million of their countrymen. America was fooled the first time.
1972: President Nixon’s Visit To China
President Nixon initiated the groundwork in 1970 for his trip to China in 1972 with Henry Kissinger. The trip lasted from February 21 to February 28. Nixon and Kissinger saw America’s new relationship with China as a re-balancing of the world power struggle with the USSR. When I read the tea leaves with the clarity of hindsight, I view Mao and Zhou as tricking America into accepting China into the community of nations. Mao and Zhou used the United States to establish China’s bonafides. China was playing the Great Game strategically and the United States, despite the acknowledged foreign policy skills of Nixon and Kissinger, was thinking merely tactically and accepting Mao at face value. America was fooled the second time.
2000/2001: Permanent Normal Trade Relations And WTO
Congress extended PNTR to China in 2000 and China was invited to join the World Trade Organization in 2001. Thus began China rise to its current position in the world economy and global affairs. All without really changing its internal policies or becoming more democratic or less totalitarian. America and the world were fooled a third time.
Wolves In Sheep’s Clothing
The CCP and its leaders have snookered the West, the European Union, Africa, and other nations around the world and have shown themselves to be rapacious wolves in sheep’s clothing. The COVID-19 Pandemic (the Wuhan Virus) has allowed America to see China through all the smoke and mirrors. The CCP is not a benign entity. In fact, it is an existential threat to humanity with its unrestricted warfare strategy. America must take the strategic steps necessary to counter and challenge China’s influence in the world. Let’s hope America begins much sooner rather than later. We really don’t want to be fooled again, do we?
Internal Link: https://whitebeardwisdom.com/almost-everyone-got-it-wrong-about-china-including-me/
External Link: https://freepressinternational.org/2020/first-global-war-of-the-21st-century-launched-without-firing-a-shot/
External Link: https://www.amazon.com/Stealth-War-China-While-Americas/dp/0593084349/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8
