In war, you never want to let the
enemy cut your supply lines, as an army can’t fight without arms, food, fuel,
medicine, and other necessities. Yet, in “peacetime,” the United States (and
the West as a whole) has simply allowed a foreign power to become our
supply source for critical parts, technologies and life-saving drugs. This is a
potentially disastrous situation as recently evidenced by a threat China’s
Communist Party made in regards to the coronavirus pandemic. Xinhua, the
state-run media agency that is the voice of the party, published a piece in
which Beijing bragged about its handling of COVID-19, a virus that originated
in the city of Wuhan, and noted that China could restrict
pharmaceutical exports thereby plunging America into “the
mighty sea of coronavirus.” The Food and Drug Administration has already
announced a shortage of an undisclosed coronavirus drug, due to the inability
to access enough raw components from China.
What kind of a government would
threaten to withhold the life-saving drugs its nation manufacturers during a
world-wide pandemic? The kind that, even after the deaths of so many of its own
citizens, would use the term, “the mighty sea of coronavirus” in a mocking
manner. Sick doesn’t begin to describe it.
Though the U.S. is the clear global
leader in medical research, it has effectively allowed the outsourcing of most
critical pharmaceuticals to China. This would be as if the Allies allowed
Germany to make their ships, planes, tanks and ammunition in World war II. We
are dangerously, absurdly, reliant on the Communist government of China
for vital goods. China currently supplies nearly 90 percent of the antibiotics
the United States needs, roughly 70 percent of the acetaminophen, and a
significant percentage of many other important drugs, as well.
Even as a new report surfaced,
suggesting that the Chinese government knew about the existence of the
coronavirus a month earlier
than it has admitted, and chose to cover it up, it has arrogantly and
preposterously attempted to portray itself as a global hero. Angered that the
U.S. had the temerity to point out that the virus originated in China, it has
demanded a thank you for containing it as long as it claims it did. An editorial
in Xinhua stated, “We should say righteously that the U.S. owes China an
apology, the world owes China a thank you.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman
Zhao Lijian went so far as to tweet: “It might be US army who brought the
epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US
owe us an explanation!” Well, that’s an interesting take, though
Lijian failed to say how the Wuhan virus could be the work of the U.S. Army. Maybe
China’s borders are more porous and undefended then we’ve been led to believe.
There are several key takeaways
here. First off, that we can never let this happen again should be an
existential lesson for the U.S. and the West, though it likely will go
unheeded. (Progressives are far more worried about the possibility of
deplorables avoiding Chinese restaurants. And far more angered by Trump and
Republicans calling COVID19 the “Wuhan virus” and asserting that it is Chinese
in origin, though it is, as was SARS.)
Secondly, progressives are wrong in
thinking that we’re all just the same inside, or that the U.S. should model
itself after Marxist, authoritarian governments. Power corrupts, and absolute
power corrupts absolutely. Yet, Bernie Sanders recently lauded China, averring:
“They have made more progress in addressing extreme poverty than any country in
the history of civilization, so they’ve
done a lot of things for their people.” The only positive thing they’ve
done for their people is allowing them more economic freedom, even as they’ve
abused and enslaved them in every other way. Historically, governments have differed
in the amount of power they allocated to their citizens. The Founders designed
the government of the United States in the reverse, delegating all but
specifically enumerated powers to the people. That made all the difference. It
is the United States that has alleviated more poverty, extreme or otherwise,
than any country in the history of civilization.
Lastly, though leftists claim Trump
is an authoritarian at heart, he is anything but, and the only one truly
fighting for the U.S. and its people in matters such as this. He knows the
leverage China has accrued over the nation he loves and is committed to
reducing it.
Whenever any other nation is
afflicted by tragedy, the United States is there to help out, physically and
monetarily. Always. Historically, this is undeniable…and unprecedented.
China’s leaders can threaten to
cast the U.S. into “the mighty sea of coronavirus,” but they should proceed
with caution. For though they may sow the wind, they may reap the whirlwind.
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