There Is a Cold War With China, Whether Biden Admits It or Not

How can Joe Biden's administration ever confront the Chinese effectively when it is in denial? Like it or not, the United States is in a Cold War every bit as intense as the 45-year conflict with the Soviet Union. Telling the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 21 that America has no desire for a "new Cold War" with China, as noble as that may sound, is a little late. Liberty Nation assessed the president's address as unremarkable, but dismissing the struggle with China because your team has no appetite for it denies reality.

Espionage City

In an opinion piece written for Fox News, Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) made this point. He characterized the Biden speech as a plea to the international community to understand that the United States does not want another Cold War. The senator explained that:

"Unfortunately, whether we seek it or not, Communist China has waged a Cold War against us for years. Our only choice is to win or lose. Last century, our Cold War with Soviet Russia was a decades-long struggle between two great powers for global economic, military, technological, and ideological supremacy. Can there be any question that we're engaged in such a confrontation with Communist China? From Djibouti to Italy, Malaysia to Iran, and Afghanistan to Sri Lanka, China seeks to corrupt and recast the international system in its rotten image. China's Belt and Road Initiative is one of the most ambitious imperial power plays ever conceived."

Cotton went on to say, "Moreover, for 30 years, the CCP has waged an economic war against America through product dumping, intellectual-property theft, and industrial sabotage." The truth of the senator’s message is at the heart of the White House’s fundamental foreign policy flaw. The administration’s diplomatic crowd approaches China as it wished it were and not how it is. Beijing’s warfare is not subtle. In their article for The National Law Review, David Laufman, Joseph Casino, and Michael Kasdan wrote:

"Over 80% of all cases charged as economic espionage (i.e., cases involving the theft of trade secrets by or on behalf of the Chinese government or its instrumentalities or agents) involve China, and 60% of all trade secret cases involve China."

China's blatant theft of U.S. high-tech intellectual property has not gone unnoticed. As a February 2020 article in The Guardian pointed out, "The FBI … identified China as the biggest law enforcement threat to the United States, and its director said Beijing was seeking to steal American technology by 'any means necessary.'"

Hacking Away

In addition, amid the U.S. battle against COVID-19 in early 2020, the FBI identified China as the culprit that hacked into computers to steal or corrupt research of laboratories working on a cure for the deadly virus. Even at the very height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union did not engage in such a fierce level of hostility against the United States. So why does China get a pass from the Biden team?

Nor is China's military challenge to the United States and its allies a secret. For several years the People's Liberation Army Navy forces have been openly threatening neighbors in the South China Sea. As Liberty Nation reported on Beijing's bellicose activities in the Indo-Pacific:

"The South China Sea is one arena in which the competition is unquestionably existential … China's aggressive actions have become more blatant and potentially deadly. Recent reports by the US State Department show China's repeated harassment and provocative actions aimed at a Malaysian state oil company exploration vessel. The State Department called the activities 'bullying' and 'destabilizing.' One case of the Chinese threatening behavior included harassing a Philippine naval ship and sinking a Vietnamese fishing boat."

During the 45-year Cold War of the last half of the 20th century, the Soviet Union attempted to subjugate half the world with a vicious and deadly campaign to bring developing nations into its communist sphere of influence. How was the Soviet Union's behavior any different from Beijing's focused and aggressive attempt to spread its influence throughout Africa and elsewhere? The CCP is staking out geopolitical footholds that surround the United States and putting America's national interests in significant jeopardy. To increase the military dimension of the CCP’s hegemonic plans, the People’s Liberation Army has increased defense spending substantially, generating a massive build-up of conventional and nuclear weaponry not seen in recent memory. Reuters reported in July 2021 that:

"The Pentagon and Republican congressmen … aired fresh concerns about China's build-up of its nuclear forces after a new report saying Beijing was building 110 more missile silos. An American Federation of Scientists (AFS) report … said satellite images showed China was building a new field of silos near Hami in the eastern part of its Xinjiang region."

China's behavior toward the United States and its allies can be characterized as war-like in every respect. The Biden administration is meeting Beijing's aggression more with denial than with a firm challenge. China is waging a Cold War with the United States as devastating as the concept Bernard Baruch had in mind when he coined the term in 1947 referring to the Soviet Union. The United States didn't start the current conflict, and it’s far from "new," as Biden said. Like it or not, President Biden, the Cold War with China is in session now and it is deadly real.

The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliation.

~  Read more from Dave Patterson.