At the end of the Cold War, it was easy to believe that history had ended — that peace and prosperity would reign forever, and that liberalism had conquered the barbaric impulses of the past once and for all. But while science and technology bring economic progress and material wealth, human nature remains fallen.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s barbarous invasion of Ukraine is a watershed moment in the return of history. Faced with heart-rending images of bombs falling on maternity hospitals, kindergartens, and civilian evacuation corridors, we are reminded of our fallen nature in a vivid, shocking way. Thanks to Putin’s aggression, we are also living in the most dangerous moment since the Cuban Missile Crisis. The risks of escalation and spillover presented by the war in Ukraine are considerable.
But unlike during the Cold War, we cannot devote the entirety of our attention to a single geopolitical challenge. For even as Putin resurrects the specter of global war, the United States must grapple with an even more powerful adversary: the People’s Republic of China. If we acknowledge that Moscow poses a serious threat to American interests, then we also have to acknowledge that Beijing poses a greater and more systematic threat than the Soviet Union ever did.
For nearly two decades, the Chinese Communist Party has undermined the United States’s economic strength and cultural cohesion by stealing critical technologies and sapping our productive capacity. It has infiltrated every segment of American society, from government and business to Hollywood and the Ivy League. All the while, the CCP has built up its hard power, amassing a formidable arsenal of advanced weaponry.
Awareness of this threat is growing, but unfortunately, America still risks being distracted by domestic politics. Just look at the Biden administration’s decision to cancel the China Initiative, the program former President Donald Trump created to empower the Department of Justice to counter Beijing’s vast espionage campaign. That President Joe Biden would handicap our efforts to counter the CCP to appease bogus accusations of racism and xenophobia is deeply concerning.
Our response to the CCP is also being handicapped by economic interests. Using the lure of increased profit margins, Beijing has turned American companies into lobbyists and advocates for its genocidal regime. Today, we have corporations that simultaneously defend Uyghur slave labor and hold compulsory struggle sessions at their offices in service of the leftist woke agenda at home.
We will need a whole-of-society effort to match the CCP. We cannot afford to let domestic disunity weaken our resolve. Conservatives need to understand this. Liberals need to understand this. Small businesses need to understand this — and so do businesses like Tesla and Amazon. If these mega-corporations will not get on board, we need to start asking ourselves why they deserve the protection and patronage of the United States government.
The Biden administration was wrong to cave to baseless accusations that the DOJ’s China Initiative was racist. The program should be reinstated, and even more agencies should adopt the same approach.
Neither can our response to espionage and trade secrets theft be one of half-measures, such as the so-called China Bill the House and Senate are negotiating. Throwing money at university research that will be easily stolen and exploited by our adversaries is not how we defend the national interest.
If we are going to prevail against the CCP, we will also need to revitalize our industrial capacity. A nation dependent on hostile regimes for basic goods is not going to last long. Think about the hand-wringing we saw over banning Russian oil. Now think about what would happen if Beijing decided to cut off imports of computers, medical supplies, or the rare earth minerals we power our weapons with. It should be obvious that our economic reliance on China is a vulnerability we can no longer tolerate.
Finally, we need strong allies and partners. This is not just a competition between Communist China and the U.S.; Beijing seeks dominion over its neighbors. In the coming months and years, our relationships with Japan, Korea, India, Taiwan, and others will be more crucial than ever. In Europe, our allies will need to take greater ownership of their security — so they can take a leading role to counter Putin’s aggression, and so we can focus on the threat of the CCP in the Indo-Pacific.
Fortunately, the horrific invasion of Ukraine has made countries across Europe realize they are not living in a post-conflict paradise at the end of history. But this realization cannot be a blip that evaporates once Putin’s war is over — it must be sustained so America can prioritize and direct its resources efficiently to counter Beijing effectively.
The CCP has spent decades preparing to displace America as the world’s greatest power. We have ignored it for far too long, almost until it was too late. But if we can stand united and remain focused on Beijing, in spite of all the competing distractions, I am confident that America will prevail, and that the lust for domination will be kept at bay just a while longer.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio is the vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, ranking member of the Congressional Executive Commission on China, and a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
