NEW YORK—Beyond the ongoing economic war with China lurks a critical moral issue regarding freedom of faith and expression in China.
Stephen K. Bannon is a founding member of The Committee on the Present Danger: China. He is a former White House chief strategist and senior counselor to President Donald J. Trump, and former executive chairman of Breitbart News.
At the conference titled The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Unrestricted Economic Warfare Against America, Bannon spoke of the economic war being waged against America and the human rights abuses being committed in China today.
“The Committee on the Present Danger, everything we’re talking about today is not about the Chinese people,” said Bannon. “It is to help free the Chinese people. The enemy is very clear, it’s the enemy of the Chinese people, that is a radical cadre of the CCP.”
Ending Enslavement
Bannon said the greatest suppression of faith is now happening at the hands of the Chinese communist regime.
“Whether it’s the Uyghurs, whether it’s the Tibetan Buddhists, whether it’s the Roman Catholic church, whether it’s the evangelicals or Falun Gong.”
In China today, many prisoners of conscience are held in detainments camps for what the Chinese communist regime called reeducation and forced labor.
“Right now we have a global financial system, a global economic system that allows this radical cadre in this totalitarian dictatorship in China to enslave their own people,” said Bannon.
Bannon said it was incumbent upon people in the West to make sure that we are not complicit in their enslavement.
“America has got to stop financing it, we’ve got to start asking hard questions, and corporate America has got to stop supporting it,” said Bannon.
“History is going to judge us, we are going to be weighed and measured by what happened,” said Bannon.
Freedom for China
Bannon called the Chinese people some of the most hardworking people in the world, and that they should be awarded the same basic freedoms that people in most other countries enjoy.
“It’s the Westphalian system that works,” said Bannon. “It’s freedom that works. What better example do you need than Hong Kong, and Taiwan, and what the Chinese-Americans have done in the United States of America.
“You give them freedom, you give them freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of religion. They can accomplish anything. But if you finance a gulag, you’re going to get a gulag on a global scale, and trust me the radical cadre the CCP, that is their plan.”
Regarding the suppression happening in mainland China, Bannon was enthusiastic about finally being able to talk about these issues.
“The west has looked the other way,” said Bannon. “I think the greatest thing Donald Trump has done besides reorienting the entire apparatus of the United States government to have a whole of government approach to a confrontation with China, is now that these issues can finally be talked about and we can have a frank conversation.”
Watch the full interview here:
Tough Negotiations
When asked how President Trump and the current administration was doing in the trade war, Bannon said the progress has been fantastic.
“President Trump reiterated and committed again in his state of the union that he would get structural changes in this deal,” said Bannon. “I think if you look at it before I mean we weren’t even engage a trade discussions with the Chinese.”
Bannon praised the progress made with Japan, Korea, the European Union, and the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), for moving toward setting up a system that will bring the supply chain back to the west.
“President Trump with Lighthizer and Peter Navarro has really had a sophisticated tough negotiations with the Chinese.”
Bannon said he thinks it will take time to work out a deal with China, considering the structural changes needed.
“You have to have Trump’s back when Wall Street starts putting pressure on him,” said Bannon. “If you don’t get a trade deal the stock market’s gonna go down a thousand points.”
Bannon called for full disclosure on Chinese companies and transparency on how pension fund money is currently financing a totalitarian regime.
“What we have to do is implement and execute on laws we have on the books,” said Bannon. “If you do that on Wall Street, that’ll be a great start.”
