Roots of the Present Crises: Embracing Communist China Was America’s Greatest Strategic Failure

Chinese People’s Liberation Army soldiers assemble during military training at the Pamir Mountains in Kashgar, Xinjiang, China, in a photo taken on Jan. 4, 2021. Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images

Commentary

From the war in Ukraine to the horrific terror attack on Oct. 7, 2023, and the subsequent conflict in the Middle East to the roiling waters of the South China Sea, the world today is in crisis. The causes are not found in Moscow or Tehran alone but primarily in Washington and Beijing. They are the consequence of two fundamental and interrelated grand strategic mistakes made by the United States: first, the failure to understand the threat from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and second, the failure to balance against it. As a result, the United States is at risk of losing its dominant position to an emboldened PRC working in cooperation with Vladimir Putin’s Russia and the mullahs in Iran. Surveying the global unrest, Americans must comprehend three reasons why they face this dire strategic landscape.