Thanks to the highest gas and electricity prices in the nation, California faces structural budget deficits that will bankrupt it if there is even a slight economic downturn. California’s fiscal frailty and energy dependence are no accident. They are a trap designed by the Chinese Communist Party, and the state’s Democrats have eagerly fallen into it.

In a new report, the National Association of Scholars details Beijing’s efforts over decades to exploit the Left’s obsession with and exaggeration of climate change. This weakens the United States and its allies by creating political pressure to reduce oil, gas, and coal production. It also makes nations more dependent on China-controlled supply chains for electric vehicles, batteries, solar panels, and rare-earth minerals.