America should motivate Chinese protesters to bring down the CCP by presenting them with an alternative to China’s model, according to retired U.S. Brig. Gen. Robert Spalding.
“They need to know an alternative exists. This will give them hope and enable them someday to break free from the tyranny,” Spalding, a contributor to The Epoch Times, said in an interview on Dec. 1.
“Even then it will take decades or more for the Chinese people to win their freedom, and it won’t come without America presenting an alternative narrative to counter the CCP,” he added.
To that end, Spalding suggested the establishment of an independent agency tasked with public diplomacy, which he said would be in charge of “spreading the message about an alternative to China’s model, and about U.S. principles and values.”
Minimal Voice of Support
He further noted that there has been minimal voice from U.S. politicians in support of the mass protests against Beijing’s zero-COVID policies in China.“We are not using our voice to speak for the downtrodden. FDR is turning in his grave as we abandon the principles of his Jan. 1941 Four Freedoms speech.”
In his opinion, corporate and financial greed are elements that hinder the United States from “staying true to our values and principles.”
Spalding further said he was most impressed with how the Chinese people no longer buy the narrative put out by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that foreign forces instigate public discontent in China.
“They are very aware they have little contact with the outside world, so telling them to be aware of foreign forces is not credible anymore. In a way, by closing off the country the CCP has made it more difficult to use these talking points.”
But Spalding doesn’t believe that “the protests are a sign of weakness for the regime.”
In Spalding’s opinion, the CCP has in hand immense digital power with “its sophisticated digital enforcement system of cameras and phone tracking” to easily crush these protests.
“The CCP, however, has the means to stop the protests and make everyone forget they even happened. That is how powerful their digital panopticon is,” he contended.
In his opinion, if the United States wishes to help the Chinese people in putting an end to the CCP, they have to apply stronger measures the same way they did to the Soviets.
“I don’t see the end of the Chinese Communist Regime unless we begin to treat them like we did the Soviets during Cold War I,” Spalding said.
