(Lee Steinhauer, Headline USA contributor) Last week, the entire nation was captivated by the giant Chinese spy balloon which made its way unimpeded across the United States before finally being shot down over the ocean. Since then, several other smaller, unidentified objects have been shot down over American airspace.
But while Americans were rightfully infuriated by this egregious violation of U.S. sovereignty, the balloon is hardly the worst abuse China has committed against the U.S. over the past few decades. In fact, it is some ways down the list.
It is, for instance, far behind China’s massive theft of U.S. technology and intellectual property, or China’s industrial-scale cyber-espionage and economic warfare against U.S. citizens and industries—and we certainly cannot forget about COVID either.
What separates the balloon, however, is that it was visceral and tangible in ways that the others were not. As a result, it as come to represent—as Rep. Michael Waltz. R-Fla., noted—a sort of Sputnik moment for the American public, making evident what has been true for a while: America and China are in a New Cold War.
While the balloon should have never entered U.S. airspace in the first place, we should, in a way, be grateful to it for providing national clarity on the fact that China is our enemy. Now, perhaps, we can dispense with the delusion of continuing to engage with China as we have, and finally do what is necessary to fight back.
This includes ending, once and for all, our senseless dependency on China for our manufacturing, particularly critical technological components, and supplies such as medicine.
We can also no longer abide Wall Street facilitating China’s rise—and, by extension, our own demise—by funding China’s economy, which in turn funds their military. Additionally, Chinese companies such as TikTok and others must be immediately banned from exploiting American data and gobbling up our real estate and farmland.
This is only a sampling of the numerous vulnerabilities that must be eliminated if America is to prevail against China in the New Cold War. Taking any of these necessary actions, however, will undoubtedly elicit howls of protest from America’s China Lobby. But the globalist elites and multinational corporations that compose the Lobby’s membership cannot be allowed to undermine America’s ability to combat China, as they have in the past, for the sake of preserving their Chinese profits.
In this respect, we must emulate again our great patriotic ancestors, including those that defeated the Soviet Union, who not only would have strongly condemned such aid to a U.S. adversary, but considered it downright treasonous, and treated it accordingly.
The New Cold War will not be won with half measures. It will require patriotism, and sacrifice, and national loyalty, even from elites unaccustomed to such things.
For those who believed otherwise, sorry for letting the air out of your balloon.
Lee Steinhauer is a strategic policy and political consultant, known for his book The Art of The New Cold War: America vs China. What America Must Do to Win.
