China’s communist regime is actively supporting authoritarian powers with the intent of undermining the United States and the international order it leads, Congress has heard.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is aligning with other adversarial powers including Iran and Russia to dismantle the rules-based international order, said former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
“These actors are working to undermine the things that matter most to us here at home,” Mr. Pompeo said during a Jan. 30 hearing of the House Select Committee on the CCP.
“There are Iranian drones going to Russia to kill Ukrainian kids. There’s Russian energy flowing to China. There’s Chinese semiconductors flowing to the Russian defense industry. There’s Iranian oil [going] into both Russia and China.”
That increasing alignment, Mr. Pompeo said, was taking place under a greater CCP strategy “to achieve American decline” in all domains.
The United States is also losing its ability to deter aggression by not responding more strongly to emerging threats in Ukraine, Gaza, and the Taiwan Strait, he added.
“We’ve got deterrence lost in Europe. We have deterrence lost in the Middle East. We are on the cusp of losing that very deterrent model in Asia as well,” Mr. Pompeo said.
China’s Strategy to ‘Undermine the United States’
The CCP’s efforts to support Iran, North Korea, and Russia have been increasingly well-documented in recent years, and fit into a wider effort to reshape the international order.Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta also testified at the hearing, saying that the effort to undermine and replace the international order was aimed first at dismantling the power of the United States and its allies.
“We live in a dangerous world in which tyrants and autocrats and terrorists are challenging and attacking democracies,” Mr. Panetta said.
“It is important that we never underestimate [CCP leader] Xi Jinping because he will use every opportunity to undermine the United States and the West.”
To that end, Mr. Panetta said that a perceived weakness in the U.S. response to emerging threats was encouraging more aggression from authoritarian powers worldwide.
“I really do think that China and Russia grew more aggressive because they sensed weakness from the United States,” Mr. Panetta said.
‘Decisive Moment for US Security’
Select Committee chair Mike Gallagher (R-Wisc.) described the alignment of authoritarian regimes in Beijing, Moscow, Pyongyang, and Tehran as a gathering storm, which the nation would need to prepare for.“We are at a decisive moment for U.S. security and global security more broadly,” Mr. Gallagher said.
“We should reflect on the lessons of history … Problems do not age well. We ignore them at our peril.”
To that end, Mr. Pompeo said that fixing the problem was not as simple as improving economic ties between democratic and authoritarian powers.
Indeed, the CCP’s hostility, he said, was “ideological,” and driven by something “much deeper and much darker.”
“Xi Jinping is driven by Marxist-Leninist ideology … Economics is a tool by which he seeks global hegemony,” Mr. Pompeo said.
“This is not an effort to improve life for the Chinese people. This is an effort for aggregation of power for the Chinese Communist Party.”
As such, he said, the United States would need to hold the CCP “at risk” to adequately deter a future conflict, including an invasion of Taiwan.
Mr. Panetta, likewise, said that the United States would need to increase its efforts to build alliances abroad and demonstrate strength when required.
“The only way to deal with China is from strength,” Mr. Panetta said.
“If we fail to provide leadership then we will govern by crisis.”
