Dear President Trump,
Over America’s exceptional history, successive generations have risen to the challenge of protecting and furthering our founding principles, and defeating existential threats to our liberties and those of our allies. Today, our generation is challenged to do the same by a virulent and increasingly dangerous threat to human freedoms—the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) through the nation it misrules: the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
The Chinese Communists’ stated ambitions are antithetical to America’s strategic interests, and the PRC is increasingly taking actions that imperil the United States and our allies. The past forty years during which America pursued an open policy of “engagement” with the PRC have contributed materially to the incremental erosion of U.S. national security.
This cannot be permitted to continue.
China is not as we wish it to be. In our political system, politics is the norm, and war is the exception. It is explicitly the opposite in the PRC’s worldview. Going forward, we must better understand and deal with this dangerous asymmetry.
We the undersigned, are encouraged by the broad and coherent strategy of robust, alternative policies you have adopted to confront the PRC’s campaign to undermine the national interests of the United States and its allies. We encourage you to stay the course on your path of countering Communist China.
We acknowledge and support your robust National Security Strategy that properly sets forth why the United States must counter the PRC. Opposing the advance of tyranny is fully in keeping with the founding principles of America and our rich heritage of defending freedom and liberty, both at home and, where necessary, abroad.
We note the PRC does not recognize the principles and rules of the existing international order, which under a Pax Americana has enabled the greatest period of peace and global prosperity in mankind’s history. The PRC rejects this order both ideologically and in practice. China’s rulers openly proclaim and insist on a new set of rules to which other nations must conform, such as their efforts to dominate the East and South China Seas and the so-called “Belt and Road Initiative” with its debt-trap diplomacy, designed to extend such hegemony worldwide. The only persistently defining principle of the CCP is the sustainment and expansion of its power.
Over the past forty years of Sino-American relations, many American foreign policy experts did not accurately assess the PRC’s intentions or attributed the CCP’s reprehensible conduct to the difficulties of governing a country of 1.3 billion people. American policymakers were told time and again by these adherents of the China-engagement school that the PRC would become a “responsible stakeholder” once a sufficient level of economic modernization was achieved. This did not happen and can not so long as the CCP rules China.
The PRC routinely and systematically suppresses religious freedom and free speech, including the imprisonment of over one million citizens in Xinjiang and the growing suppression of Hong Kong’s autonomy. The PRC also routinely violates its obligations, as it does with the World Trade Organization, freedom of navigation and the protection of coral reefs in the South China Sea. Beijing then demands that its own people and the rest of the world accept their false narratives and justifications, demands aptly termed as “Orwellian nonsense.”
The PRC is not and never has been a peaceful regime. It uses economic and military force—what it calls its “comprehensive national power”—to bully and intimidate others. The PRC threatens to wage war against a free and democratically led Taiwan.
It is expanding its reach around the globe, co-opting our allies and other nations with the promise of economic gain, often with authoritarian capitalism posing as free commerce, corrupt business practices that go-unchecked, state-controlled entities posing as objective academic, scientific or media institutions and trade and development deals that lack reciprocity, transparency and sustainability. The CCP corrupts everything it touches.
This expansionism is not random or ephemeral. It is manifestly the unfolding of the CCP’s grand strategy. The Party’s ambitions have been given many names, most recently the “China Dream,” the “great rejuvenation” of China, or the “Community of Common Destiny.” The “Dream” envisioned by the Communist Party is a nightmare for the Chinese people and the rest of the world.
We firmly support the Chinese people, the vast majority of whom want to live peaceful lives.
But we do not support the Communist government of China, nor its control by the dangerous Xi Jinping clique. We welcome the measures you have taken to confront Xi’s government and selectively to decouple the U.S. economy from China’s insidious efforts to weaken it. No amount of U.S. diplomatic, economic, or military “engagement” will disrupt the CCP’s grand strategy.
If there is any sure guide to diplomatic success, it is that when America leads other nations follow. If history has taught us anything it is that clarity and commitment of leadership in addressing existential threats, like from the PRC, will be followed by our allies when policy prescriptions such as yours become a reality. The PRC’s immediate strategy is to delay, stall, and otherwise wait out your presidency. Every effort must be made therefore to institutionalize now the policies and capabilities that can rebalance our economic relations with China, strengthen our alliances with like-minded democracies and ultimately to defeat the PRC’s global ambitions to suppress freedom and liberty.
Stay the Course!
James E. Fanell Captain, USN (Ret) Former Director of Intelligence & Information Operations U.S. Pacific Fleet
List of U.S. Signatures (Alphabetically as of July 18, 2019)
Willard Anderson
Clarence Anthony Lieutenant Colonel, USMC (Ret)
Rod Azama Director The Chancellor Group
Bob Baker Former US Army Intelligence Analyst
Tim Beard Rear Admiral, USN (Ret)
Michael Bender Commander, USN (Ret)
Kenneth Benway Lieutenant Colonel, USA (Ret) U.S. Army Special Forces
Paul Berkowitz Former Staff Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee
Joseph Bosco Retired Department of Defense
E. Bostwick Jr. Senior Intelligence Officer, GS-15 (Ret) USPACOM
Christopher Brassard President Ten Eyck Group
Robert Brodsky Captain, USN (Ret)
Nick Buck Captain, USN (Ret)
Naushard Cader Board Member/Director Center for War and Peace Studies
Roger Canfield Author americong.com and VVFH.org
Kevin Carrico Senior Lecturer Monash University
Dennis Carroll
Gordon Chang Writer
Edward Connelly, Ph.D. Chinese, Australian National University Independent Translator
David Connelly III Captain, USN (Ret)
Henry F. Cooper Ambassador, former Chief Defense & Space Negotiator with the Soviet Union, SDI Director
Anders Corr, Ph.D. Publisher Journal of Political Risk
Demetrius Cox Lieutenant Commander, USN (Ret) U.S. Pacific Fleet Veteran Intelligence Officer
Michael Craven
Iara Celeste Diaz Painter
Kenneth de Graffenreid Former Special Assistant to the President, Senior Director of Intelligence Programs, Ronald Reagan National Security Council
Donny DeLeon Filipino American Human Rights Alliance
Chuck DeVore Lieutenant Colonel, USAR (Ret) California State Assemblyman, 2004-2010; Special Assistant for Foreign Affairs, Office of the Secretary of Defense, 1986-1988
Markham Dossett Commander, USNR (ret)
June Teufel-Dreyer Professor of Political Science University of Miami
Ian Easton Research Fellow Project 2049 Institute
Robert D. Eldridge President The Eldridge Think Tank
Richard Fisher
Nels Frye
Art Furtney Major, USMC, (Ret)
Frank J. Gaffney Vice Chairman Committee on the Present Danger: China
Samantha Gay
Kerry K. Gershaneck Professor & Senior Research Associate Thammasat University Faculty of Law (CPG)
Bill Gertz Author of “Deceiving the Sky: Inside Communist China’s Drive for Global Supremacy”
Paul Giarra Commander, U.S. Navy (Ret)
Jose Gonzalez
Chadwick Gore Former Staff Director House Foreign Affairs Europe, Eurasia, Emerging Threats subcommittee
James Grundvig Freelance Investigative Journalist
Ilango Gurusamy Owner, Freedom on Wheels LLC and Propellant Software
Lianchao Han Vice-President Citizen Power Initiatives for China
Heath Hansen Specialist, USA (Ret) Veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan
William Hawkins President Hamilton Center for National Strategy
Donald Henry Captain, USN, (Ret)
William C. Horn Captain, USN (Ret)
Bradley Johnson President Americans for Intelligence Reform
Frank Kelly Captain, USN (Ret)
James D. Kelly Rear Admiral, USN (Ret) President Center for International Exchange-US (NPO)
Miles Killoch
Roy Kirvan, Ph.D. U.S. Intelligence Community (Ret)
Ted Kresge Lieutenant General, USAF (Ret) Former Vice Commander U.S. Pacific Air Forces
Emil Levine Captain, USNR, (Ret)
Steve Lewandowski
Claire Lopez VP for Research & Analysis Center for Security Policy
Ben Lowsen China Strategist U.S. Air Force/Sawdey Solution Services, LLC
Holly Lynch Democrat Candidate for NY’s 10th Congressional District
Tim Lyon Captain, USN (Ret)
Victor Mair Professor University of Pennsylvania
Rod Martin Founder & CEO The Martin Organization, Inc.
Tidal W. McCoy Former Acting Secretary of the U.S. Air Force
Thomas G. McInerney Lieutenant General, USAF (Ret) Assistant Vice Chief of Staff U.S. Air Force
Randy McSmith Master Chief Petty Officer, USN (Ret)
John Mengel Captain, USN (Ret)
Paul Midler Author of “What’s Wrong with China?”
John Mills Colonel, USAR (Ret) Director (Ret) Cybersecurity Policy, Strategy, and International Affairs
James Mishina Lieutenant Colonel, USA (Ret) U.S. Tax Payer
Wayne Morris Colonel, USMC (Ret) Numerous Military Veteran Associations
Steven Mosher President Population Research Institute
Denis Muller Lieutenant Colonel, USMC (Ret)
Merle Mulvaney Lieutenant Colonel, USA (Ret) Member, Red Star Rising
Charles “Chuck” Nash Captain USN (Ret)
Jim Newman Captain, USN (Ret) JHU/APL
Grant Newsham Colonel, USMCR (retired) Visiting Scholar, National Chengchi University, Taiwan
Roscoe Nicholson II International Consultant
Peter O'Brien Captain, USN (Ret)
Edward O'Dowd PhD & Colonel, USA, (Ret)
Kyle Olbert Director of Operations East Turkistan National Awakening Movement
Don Oliphant President DWO Enterprises
Robert Oster Private Investor
Rebeca Page Publisher SD Metro Magazine
Robert Page Chairman/CEO REP Publishing, Inc.
Russ Penniman Rear Admiral, USN (Ret) Former Reserve Deputy Commander U.S. Pacific Fleet
Lawrence Peter Lieutenant Commander, USN (Ret)
Peter Pry Dr. & Director EMP Task Force
Robert Rector
Eric Reddig U.S. Navy Veteran
J.R. Reddig Captain, USN, (Ret)
Louis Riggio
Eric Rohrbach
Robert Rohrer
Gerard Roncolato Captain, USN (Ret.)
Warren Henry Rothman
Robert Rubel Captain, USN (Ret)
Mark Safranski Publisher zenpundit.com
Junko Sakamoto Consultant
Michael Schauf Captain USN (Ret) Military Intelligence
Stuart Schippereit Commander, USN (Ret) Former naval intelligence analyst
Paul Schmehl VVFH
Suzanne Scholte President Defense Forum Foundation
Carl Schuster Captain, USN (Ret) Adjunct Faculty, Hawaii Pacific University
Dan Seesholtz Captain, USN (Ret)
Lawrence Sellin Colonel, USAR (Ret) Iraq and Afghanistan veteran
William Sharp Former Host, Asia in Review
Stephen Sherman Director RADIX Foundation
Scott Shipman Owner B.B. Hoss, Inc.
Joseph Smith President (Ret) Parke-Davis Pharmaceuticals
Fred Smith Captain, USN (Ret) Lecturer, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
Peter Smith Captain, USN (Ret) Consultant
Pete Speer Lieutenant Commander, USN (Ret) Member, Red Star Rising
William A. Stanton Former Director of the American Institute in Taiwan
Guy Stitt CEO AMI International
Duane Stober Captain, USNR, (Ret) Former Reserve Intelligence Coordinator Area One
Mark Stokes Executive Director Project 2049 Institute
Fred Stratton Commander, USN (Ret)
Gary Stubblefield Commander, USN (Ret)
John Tate Commander, USN (Ret)
Bradley Thayer Professor University of Texas San Antonio
Mark Tiernan Captain, USNR (Ret)
John J. Tkacik Director, Future Asia Project International Assessment and Strategy Center
Don Tse Lead researcher SinoInsider
Paul Valleley Major General, USA (Ret) Chairman Stand Up America
John E. Vinson Captain USN, (Ret)
Thomas Wade
Arthur Waldron Lauder Professor of international Relations University of Pennsylvania
Yana Way Educator, Way Tutoring
Toshi Yoshihara PhD, Author of “Red Star Over the Pacific”
James Zumwalt Lieutenant Colonel, USMC (Ret)
Jennifer Zeng Author of “Witnessing History: One Woman’s Fight for Freedom and Falun Gong”
Foreign Signatures (As of July 18, 2019)
Terence Russell Senior Scholar University of Manitoba Canada
Doris Liu Independent documentary journalist Canada
Jianli Yang Founder & President Citizen Power Initiatives for China China
Elena Bernini CEO Oxford Omnia International Italy
Satoshi Nishihata Washington Bureau Chief The Liberty, Happy Science USA Japan
Larry Ong Senior analyst SinoInsider Singapore
Chu-cheng Ming Senior researcher SinoInsider Taiwan
