Cal Thomas: Stepping away from “Made in China”

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Today is Thursday, June 22nd. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Paul Butler.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal broke news of China’s plans to create a “joint military training facility” in Cuba. That’s on top of revelations earlier in the month that Beijing has had a spy base in Cuba since 2019. Commentator Cal Thomas now on what Americans can do.

CAL THOMAS, COMMENTATOR: Many have tried not buying items made in China, but it is a near impossibility. Everything from prescription drugs to you name it seems to originate in a country whose regime is proving to be America’s greatest adversary and growing enemy.

Which is why now may be the ideal time to respond to threats to the U.S. by Chinese expansionism where it hurts the most: China’s economy.

As The New York Times reports, “Investment in China has stagnated this spring after a flurry of activity in late winter. Exports are shrinking. Fewer and fewer new housing projects are being started. Prices are falling. More than one in five young people is unemployed.”

America’s trade deficit with China is a whopping $355 billion. That’s $45 billion more than in 2020 when it was $310 billion.

Robby Smith Saunders is Vice President for National Security at the Coalition for a Prosperous America. She writes: “Economic statecraft ought to be our number one objective right now when it comes to China. … But instead of making a few tough financial, investment, export, and business decisions now, our policymakers want to keep as much of the money and knowledge flowing as possible between China and the U.S. for as long as they can, while simultaneously drawing up war plans for Taiwan. It does not make sense to me.”

It makes no sense to me, either. Properly addressed it would make no sense to many Americans.

The United States ought to declare its intention to wean itself from China by starting to make more things in this country, beginning with prescription drugs. This would require, among other things, politicians to unite in a bipartisan and patriotic effort to slow and even stop China’s plans for world domination. I suspect many people would be willing to pay at least slightly higher prices if they could be persuaded it was in the best interest of their country and its future.

What’s the alternative? More spy balloons and more spying on the ground?

This from the Center for Strategic and International Studies ought to be the starting point for this debate: “The long-term cost to the American economy and national security cannot be precisely measured, but estimates run into the billions of dollars for commercial and technological espionage. Chinese espionage also created immeasurable damage to national security with the theft of weapons technology, including nuclear weapons test data. In the last few years, China has added the theft of massive quantities of personal information, political coercion, and influence operations, to its espionage activities.”

Is there anyone running for president who will take this up as a major foreign and domestic policy issue? What about Congress, which seems to be too timid to do much?

If we don’t start now, we will regret it later. Especially if China gets its planned military training facility in Cuba, with troops and intelligence operations 100 miles from Florida.

I’m Cal Thomas.

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