Fight China like you mean it

Politicians have correctly identified China as the primary rival of the United States.

How to best counter the threat?

1. Limit or end involvement in foreign wars

If you don’t follow Elbridge Colby, I highly recommend him. He’s a national defense policy expert who has been sounding the alarm for months that we need to take China more seriously as a military threat to our foreign interests. Doing so would require that we stop supplying Ukraine and Israel, as the weapons systems and ammunition we send are not being replenished at a fast enough rate to counter China in the event of a Taiwan invasion.

2. Poach Chinese talent / create a brain drain

Eliminate limits on visas for highly skilled Chinese workers and top students. Of course, continue to vet applicants for ties to the Chinese government. But imagine if we could entice enough top talent to put China at a disadvantage for technological innovation. Jewish immigrants fleeing Nazi Germany were instrumental in the Manhattan Project: they are the reason we had atomic weapons before anyone else.

3. Reform asylum

Too many migrants are flowing unvetted through our southern border by taking advantage of the asylum loophole, including over 37,000 Chinese nationals in 2023. An asylum claim now takes an average of five years to process. In the meantime, migrants — especially ones funded by hostile foreign powers — can disappear and start carrying out their missions. We should designate Mexico as a safe country and automatically disqualify and deport any migrants entering through Mexico.

3. Return to meritocracy

Shaping policy with a goal of racial equity (equal outcomes) is making us worse off and less competitive against China. It goes without saying that China doesn’t coddle its intellectual underclass — especially not at the expense of national security.

We are already facing a literacy crisis, with about half of kindergarteners unable to meet standards. Equity in school punishments like suspension and expulsion exacerbate the problem by creating classrooms where students can’t learn because disruptors can’t be removed. To maintain the illusion that everyone is equal, affirmative action is applied with a heavier thumb on the scale as students progress through their academic careers. What innovations in technology are we forgoing because we prioritized diversity over competence?

4. Maintain law and order

Criminal justice reform ensures that violent criminals are released over and over again, harming innocent victims and creating fear and disorder in cities. When we read about shocking crimes like the man who lassoed a woman by her neck and raped her behind a parked car, we often find out that the perpetrator has been arrested multiple times in the past. Kashaan Parks is a mild case, with only two prior arrests. Some have dozens. If criminals are kept in prison for their crimes, they won’t be free to brutally victimize more innocent people.

Seeing crime reports like this every day breeds division and resentment. Some say the answer is to stop releasing mugshots or to suppress reporting on crime if the perpetrator is of the race most likely to commit violent crime. Obviously, obscuring the problem is not a solution, just like destroying the scale doesn’t make you immune to the diseases caused by your obesity.

Who benefits from the chaos and division? All of our foreign adversaries. As long as we’re busy squabbling over whether it’s more important that a woman be able to walk down the street without getting raped or that Kashaan gets many extra chances to make up for his impoverished upbringing, our attention is wasted on what shouldn’t even be a debate. Our foreign rivals benefit from crime and disorder in our streets because it keeps distracted, unable to focus on them.

What are our politicians actually doing to counter China?