In this special episode, we sat down with Bradley Thayer, founding member of the Committee on the Present Danger: China. He sheds light on the book he co-authored with Lianchao Han titled “Understanding the China Threat,” how that understanding can help us determine what our next steps should be in countering the Chinese regime, and more.
Thayer said: “U.S. priorities should first be to prepare for a far more aggressive and assertive China than what we have encountered thus far. China’s growth has been alarming, and that has fueled an aspect of aggression in its foreign policies. After the 20th party congress, we should expect this to become worse. And we should expect it to be so because Xi Jinping will have his domestic house in order if events develop on Oct. 16 and afterward, as anticipated, … he receives a third term, I think that’s quite likely. But what that means is that Xi Jinping will now have established his control over the party and that dissidents or elements which are opposed to him are really neutered, or under his control. He’s ensured that he’s dominant, and thus, the party’s control over China is as well. So since he does have his domestic situation in place, we should expect that he now has the opportunity to convert his power and attention in international politics against his neighbors in the South China Sea, against U.S. interests in the Indo-Pacific, and globally. So we should expect a far more active and belligerent Xi Jinping after the 20th party congress.”
But he notes, when it comes to tackling those challenges, “first, to recognize that victory is possible, that the Chinese regime should be confronted. And if it’s confronted, it can be defeated. And it can be defeated through ideology … not through a kinetic means. We don’t want it to come to conflict, obviously kinetic conflict, but in the ideological conflict, which is something that the West should wage aggressively against the Chinese regime to convey to the world and the Chinese people that the regime is not legitimate, and the Chinese people don’t have to suffer under it.”
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