Commentary
Communism is a word frequently uttered in the political arena. Yet, too often, the proper weight of this term and the devastating consequences this ideology has inflicted across the globe is overlooked or, at the very least, misunderstood.
Far too many Americans complacently believe that liberal democracy has permanently triumphed. In doing so, they neglect both historical truths and contemporary realities.
Today, more than 1.5 billion people still live under oppressive communist regimes, with over 1.4 billion of these residing in China alone, along with 10 million others just 90 miles from our shores in Cuba. And since the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, over 100 million lives have been lost at the merciless hand of communism. Even now, this number continues to rise.
China Executes 4 Canadian Citizens
China’s recent execution of four Canadian citizens earlier this year serves as a chilling reminder of the regime’s disregard for human rights and international norms.These four individuals were dual Canadian Chinese citizens convicted on drug-related charges. Beijing, however, refused to acknowledge this dual citizenship, leveraging its ruthless brand of hostage diplomacy to impose the death penalty.
To informed onlookers, this rare punishment says more about their propagandized political messaging than about anything resembling judicial sovereignty.
This is not a one-off instance, though. The same grim fate awaits yet another Canadian citizen, Robert Lloyd Schellenberg. On drug charges, he was initially sentenced to 15 years in prison. Upon appeal, however, where no new evidence was presented, Chinese judges determined the prior rule was too lenient and thus sentenced Schellenberg to death.
Ottawa has rightly called out Beijing for such injustice.
China on the Prowl
We must take these executions for what they are—warnings that the Chinese Communist Party is a totalitarian regime, antithetical to American ideals, whose power is no longer contained within the borders of the People’s Republic of China. Indeed, China’s influence has expanded far and wide.This year alone, aggressive Chinese action has been prevalent in the Indo-Pacific. China has conducted dangerous live-fire drills off the coast of our ally, Australia. It has cut undersea cables to damage communications. It has built landing barges for an invasion of Taiwan and just this month conducted two-day war games around the island, to name a few.
Chinese aggressive action, however, is not limited to the Eastern Hemisphere. Latin America has become increasingly subject to Chinese infiltration. Coercive economic practices have allowed China to debt trap nations like Venezuela and they aim to increase its control over vital trade routes through the Panama Canal and the deep-sea megaport in Chancay, Peru.
Finally, China both supports and supplies Mexican cartels.
The Impact on America
Fortunately, China’s infiltration in the Western Hemisphere has been countered by the new administration through Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s recent visit to the Panama Canal and President Donald Trump’s executive action to secure the southern border.Nevertheless, if the cruel hand of communism has reached our neighbors to both the North and the South, are we supposed to believe that the U.S. is immune?
Certainly not. In fact, Americans have already been affected in a variety of ways.
Fentanyl, to begin, is perhaps the most direct means of Chinese aggression in the U.S. It is a drug that kills nearly 200 Americans every day, and the primary source of this substance is none other than China.
In addition, the Chinese government has used TikTok as a means to track, access, and study the movement of Americans online and harm the 170 million American users by promoting disinformation.
Not to mention, the overwhelming evidence as of late that COVID-19 was not a natural phenomenon but a lab leak from Wuhan that killed over 1 million Americans and cost our economy exceptionally.
The United States must not tolerate such tactics any longer, and we certainly cannot afford to let this influence grow, for we are engaged in a contest that will define global security and liberty in the twenty-first century.
Communism Is a Force That Must Be Stopped
This is what average Americans must understand. Communism is not just a political smear. Nor is it a historic philosophy. It is a regime, alive and well across the globe, seeking the end of the American way of life.To regionalize the Chinese Communist Party and once more contain the spread of communism, we must ensure the public is sufficiently informed on these threats, collaborate with our allies in the Western Pacific to establish deterrence, and remind China of the strength and resolve of the United States.
The devastating consequences of communism must not remain ignored.
Reprinted by permission from The Daily Signal, a publication of The Heritage Foundation.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
