Distinguishing Between the CCP and China Is Still the Key to Success of US-China Relations

Distinguishing Between the CCP and China Is Still the Key to Success of US-China Relations
Chinese Vice Chair Xi Jinping (R) and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden speak with Chinese business leaders at the Beijing Hotel in Beijing, on Aug. 19, 2011. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)
Yang Wei
2/16/2021
Updated:
3/6/2021
Commentary

The recent conversation between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping did not bring about any real improvement in U.S.-China relations. The top Communist Party officials want Biden to submit to Beijing. After Biden extended his Lunar New Year’s greetings to Xi on Feb. 11, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also extended his best wishes to the Chinese. The Communist mouthpiece touted the greetings. But is the U.S. government extending its New Year’s greetings to the Chinese people or the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)?

Blinken’s New Year’s greetings seemed to be mainly targeted at the Chinese people. He said, “I hope that our friends all over the world will be healthy, peaceful and happy on the occasion of the Chinese New Year on February 12.” He also stated, “We invite all nations to join us in building a better world for future generations.”

The U.S.-China bilateral relations have yet to improve. How does the new Biden administration hope to “build a better world” with China?

During his first foreign policy address on Feb. 4, Biden said his administration would “push back” when it comes to human rights issues in China and added that the United States is “ready to work with Beijing if it’s in America’s interest to do so.”

Last month, during Blinken’s confirmation hearing as Biden’s Secretary of State nominee, he said that China poses the greatest threat of any nation to the United States, according to Fox News.

Regardless of how China is viewed, it’s hard to see a “better world” under the Chinese regime’s tyranny.

According to the Biden administration, various departments are still evaluating U.S.-China relations, and the China policy has not really taken shape. In other words, Biden is unwilling to continue Trump’s China strategy, but he cannot find an effective alternative for the time being.

Many U.S. politicians have clearly seen the CCP’s ambition and aggressiveness, and also deeply understand the CCP’s infiltration at every level. The real threat has already reached Washington’s doorsteps; however, the Biden administration does not view the CCP as the biggest enemy. During a press briefing on Feb. 2, State Department spokesman Ned Price said, “We are in serious competition with China.” This actually shows the hesitation of the new administration in confronting and cooperating with the CCP.

The Biden team probably has not yet realized that the CCP regime is what the United States needs to confront, and the Chinese people are who they need to cooperate with. If the CCP is seeking hegemony, it’s anxious to get rid of the United States as soon as possible. But, on the contrary, the Chinese people are willing to cooperate sincerely with the Americans and the people of the world. The CCP is the enemy of the United States. There is no fundamental conflict of interest between the Chinese and the Americans, and there are no historical national grievances. The Chinese are America’s friends and fair and valuable competitors.

If the Biden administration cannot clearly distinguish between the CCP from China and the CCP from the Chinese people, it would be equivalent to equating the 1.4 billion Chinese people with the CCP regime.

People wait to be inoculated with a COVID-19 vaccine at the Chaoyang Museum of Urban Planning in Beijing, China, on Jan. 15, 2021. (Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images)
People wait to be inoculated with a COVID-19 vaccine at the Chaoyang Museum of Urban Planning in Beijing, China, on Jan. 15, 2021. (Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images)

If the CCP and China cannot be distinguished, and the relationship between China and other countries is regarded as the relationship with the CCP, then the strategies for so-called confrontation and cooperation will be unclear. Any measure will only end up with obstacles and it will not succeed.

In the past few decades of engagement policy, the CCP has not been changed, but only nurtured. It has only worsened the harm to the Chinese people and the world. Now with the so-called confrontation and cooperation, how is it possible to change the regime?

Why were the top CCP leaders afraid of the Trump administration? They were afraid of sanctions. They were afraid of not being recognized as legitimate rulers. They feared that former President Trump and his team would repeatedly distinguish between the CCP and the Chinese people.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo once said to help the Chinese people defeat the Chinese Communist regime and called on the international community to take responsibility. This is the right way to “build a better world.”

If the U.S. leadership continues to recognize the CCP regime, any type of confrontation or cooperation will not defeat the nature of the CCP. Instead, it is fostering the greatest enemy of the free world—how can it truly eliminate the threat to the United States?

The example of former President Ronald Reagan’s success in the Cold War proves that the United States needs a winning strategy, not a strategy to deal with the Cold War. The United States needs to fundamentally defeat the enemy in order to finally eliminate the threat, and all problems will be solved easily. The disintegration of the former Soviet Union is historically inevitable, and the disintegration of the CCP is also the same. Following the general trend of history is the best choice.

If the United States lacks accurate positioning and strategies, it will be trapped by itself and will also pay a greater price. The CCP is prepared for both confrontation and cooperation, but the United States has not yet formed a strategy. The CCP has repeatedly emphasized “internal circulation,” meaning having domestic sectors provide all the goods needed for Chinese consumption, from raw materials to manufacturing. This shows the CCP does not expect the U.S.-China relationship to return to the way it once was before Trump was in power.

In the face of the military coup in Burma (Myanmar), the Biden administration immediately refused to recognize it and supported the democratically elected government. However, in the face of the CCP, which also violently seized power and relied on the Party military to maintain its power to date, the Biden administration has not yet clearly positioned itself. How can freedom, democracy, and human rights truly manifest?

Biden’s “strategic patience” is tantamount to admitting that he still can’t figure out a strategy. It is precisely because he has not fully understood the nature of the CCP. In other words, he lacks the courage to eliminate it. Biden’s current position cannot make the Chinese Communist regime give up its hostile hatred and automatically transform itself into a so-called “competitor.”

The key to the success of U.S.-China relations is to clearly distinguish the CCP from the Chinese people. It would show that the CCP regime does not represent the Chinese people.

To confront is to fully confront the Chinese Communist regime; to cooperate is to fully cooperate with the Chinese people. Therefore, it has become an inevitable move to decouple from the CCP, resolutely abandon the CCP, and disintegrate the regime. This is the way to victory in the U.S.-China relationship, and it is also a smooth path to a valuable friendship between both countries. Only then can it be possible to “build a better world” together.

Yang Wei has been closely following China affairs for many years. He has been contributing political commentary on China for the Chinese language Epoch Times since 2019.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Yang Wei has been closely following China affairs for many years. He has been contributing political commentary on China for the Chinese language Epoch Times since 2019.
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