China‘s communist ideology combined with an extreme nationalism are the driving forces behind the threat posed by the People’s Republic of China, according to a major new report by the State Department’s policy planning staff.
Breaking with four decades of U.S. policy, the report argues that the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has embellished its brand of Marxism-Leninism by combining it with a hyper nationalism — with the ultimate goal of maintaining power at home while achieving world domination under authoritarian rule.
“The communism that the [Chinese Communist Party] professes is more than a mode of authoritarian domestic governance,” the report said. “It is also a theory of a globe-spanning universal society, the ultimate goal of which is to bring about a socialist international order.”
The 74-page report, “The Elements of the Chinese Challenge,” was ordered by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as part of the Trump administration’s aggressive shift in U.S. policy toward China. The new policy sought to end what critics says was unfettered economic and political engagement with China by recognizing Beijing as a major strategic competitor and adversary.
Insiders at the State Department said the paper is not an official policy paper, and it is said to lack official endorsement by senior government officials outside the pro-Pompeo policy planning staff.
Viewing China‘s conduct through the ideas that inspire and shape its actions “dispels the starry-eyed optimism about the PRC that has distorted U.S. policy,” the report said. “It also encourages sobriety in cooperating with, containing, and deterring the CCP.”
Use of the word “containment” regarding China marks a major shift in American policy. For decades, Beijing has accused the United States of seeking to restrain China‘s economic and military rise in ways similar to Cold War struggle with the Soviet Union.
The report attempts to makes clear the distinction first made by Mr. Pompeo, and bolstered by White House National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien, Attorney General Bill Barr and other senior officials in recent months that the ruling party is different from the Chinese people and should be the target of U.S. containment efforts.
“The Trump Administration achieved a fundamental break with the conventional wisdom,” the report said, one requiring the U.S. and its allies to “develop a new strategic doctrine to address the primacy and magnitude of the China challenge.”
According to the report, the current revival of communism accelerated under President Xi Jinping, who since coming to power in 2012 pressed for greater study of Marxist theory and Leninist practice.
Mr. Xi issued an edict called “Document 9” identifying constitutional democracy, human rights, free speech and free markets as among the perils facing Chinese society in the struggle for global dominance.