Social Justice We Should All Agree On

“I wish our media was just as skeptical of [Chinese] President Xi as they are of President Trump. There’s a communist regime engaging in a coverup, and our press refuses to expose it.” - Congressman Dan Crenshaw

There is perhaps nothing more vogue in American culture right now than “out-woking” your neighbor by standing up for social justice. Millions of Americans have taken to the streets to protest what they’ve declared to be “fascist” government policies and instigate a reckoning with our nation’s stained past. 

While many of these activists have noble intentions of lifting marginalized communities out of poverty, I can’t help but wonder why they then turn a blind eye to China and the nation’s egregious and ongoing human rights violations. 

Maybe it is because this information is so infrequently reported in the mainstream press. China lies… China cheats… China steals… all the time, and it gets less attention than Sea World’s treatment of whales. 

Just this week, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared "[d]uring the 150-year British colonial rule, Hong Kong had no democracy & its people no freedom." That is a lie.

As China imprisons and deprives the Uyghurs of basic human rights, the same Ministry of Foreign Affairs claims the "rights & interests of Chinese people of all ethnic minorities are fully protected." Again, a lie.

Not only are the rights and interests of these individuals not being protected, but they are also being stripped away entirely as China engages in genocide, mass imprisonment, forced-sterilization, reeducation, and forced-labor. 

A mis-worded tweet can lead to an individual, company, or organization to be cancelled in our country. Yet the same individuals looking to find offense in every statement, completely ignore that major American corporations are taking advantage of regressive Chinese policies to profit off cheap labor. Talk about hypocrisy. 

The mainstream media has widely touted a Biden presidency as “put[ting] human rights and democracy first” out of one side of their mouth, while publishing headlines like "Biden Will Normalize Chinese Relations And Collaborate On Climate And Trade" out of the other. 

It was once believed that engaging China in trade, commerce, and diplomacy would help spark a liberalization in the country – a yearning to breathe free amongst the populace that would lead to a freer and more just society governed by and for the people.

That vision clearly has not become reality.

Immediately returning to the same failed strategy and relationship that led to the rise in power, prominence, wealth, and ambitions of the Chinese Communist Party is not only foolish, but it also meets the definition of insanity widely popularized by Albert Einstein.

Taking the same failed approach to trade and commerce and applying it to energy, the environment, and future trade relations, and believing that this time, China will engage with us honestly is a fool’s errand.

China will continue to lie, cheat, and steal. China will continue to use enslaved minority populations to produce cheap goods that it believes the world will not go without because, at least until now, we have demonstrated that they are correct.

There can and should be no normalization with a country that is actively engaging in human slavery, subverting autonomy in Hong Kong, and planning to expand its reach and tyranny in Taiwan.

America’s tacit approval of such behavior would be a mistake of historic proportions. We cannot allow them to act with impunity just because they are our biggest trading partner. We must leverage the world’s largest economy – while we still can – to bring China to an honest bargaining position and end the human rights abuses taking place within its borders. 

We can and must demand more. We cannot justify silence as the United States becomes complicit in perpetuating these atrocities by engaging with China as if it were just any other nation on earth. 

While it is fashionable for political parties to hold diametrically different opinions on all matters of public policy, it would be foolish for Mr. Biden and the Democrats to normalize relations with China, just because President Trump popularized the tough on China stance.