Yesterday, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein said that China is “growing into a respectable nation.” Her comments weren’t made in a vacuum, and they serve as a reminder of the years of failure in addressing China that have led to our present situation.

Feinstein has served in the Senate since 1992, and her favorable view of China goes all the way back to when she was mayor of San Francisco in the 1980s. The Los Angeles Times reported in 1997 that Feinstein was “one of the staunchest proponents of closer U.S. relations with China” while she and her husband maintained major financial ties to the country.