The United States’ approach to China since the communist regime in Beijing began a period of reform and opening in the 1980s was based on a promise that trade and engagement would lead to a peaceful, democratic Chinese state. Forty years later, it is obvious that this approach has utterly failed. Instead of a benign People’s Republic of China, the result is a new evil empire more dangerous than the old Soviet Union.
The Communist Party of China deceived the West into believing that its system and the Party-ruled People’s Liberation Army posed no threat. Successive American presidential administrations—fooled by misguided pro-China policymakers, intelligence analysts, and business leaders—facilitated the rise of an expansionist, nuclear-armed dictatorship focused on a single overriding strategic objective: weakening and destroying the United States of America. For China’s current rulers, defeating the United States is the necessary first step to achieving global supremacy and establishing a new world order based on communism with Chinese characteristics.
The main weapon in this campaign is technology theft and acquisition from American companies on a colossal scale, through cyber theft and unfair trade practices. Stolen technology supports an unprecedented buildup of the Chinese military, which now directly threatens American and allied interests around the world. In addition, China aggressively pursues regional and international hegemony by a variety of means, including economic, cyber, and space warfare, and vast influence operations.
In Deceiving the Sky: Inside Communist China’s Drive for Global Supremacy, Bill Gertz details these tactics, and assesses the failure to understand the nature of China’s activities and the perils they present. Finally, he recommends measures the United States can take to counter the threat.
