OPINION:
Americans by and large hold a negative view of China, but for the first time in five years, the number of U.S. adults who possess what Pew Research Center labeled as an “unfavorable opinion” of the communist country has dropped — meaning fewer now in the land of the free are regarding communism as an evil.
This is China’s long-term strategy at work. The Chinese Communist Party doesn’t want to take over the world so much militarily as take over the world peaceably — that is, to have citizens voluntarily embrace the Chinese way. It’s longer-lasting that way; it’s a form of conquest that doesn’t appear to be a conquest.
And nothing says evil genius like an evil that manages to convince its targets to adopt, embrace and, yes, love that evil.
From Pew: “Americans hold largely negative views of China: Most have a very or somewhat unfavorable view of the country, and they tend to name China as the nation that poses the greatest threat to the United States. Still, attitudes toward China have warmed somewhat. For the first time in five years, the share of Americans with an unfavorable opinion of China has fallen from the year before.”
In 2024, fully 81 percent of U.S. adults expressed in a Pew poll an “unfavorable opinion of China.” Now, when asked the same question, only 77 percent of adults express similarly.
Moreover, Pew wrote, “the share who have a very unfavorable opinion of China has dropped 10 percentage points since last year.”
Blame the public school system, with all its infusion of Marxist ideologies that say America is to blame for the world’s ills; that capitalism is racist; that the Founding Fathers were slaveowners and therefore, their founding documents ought to be trashed; and that the idea of American Exceptionalism — where individuals are possessed of rights and liberties from God and governments are only instituted among the people to protest and preserve their birth-rights — is unfair to other nations, out-of-date and ancient, and an over-the-top principle of patriotism that doesn’t apply to these modern times.
Blame it on globalism, and the growing penchant of politicians, scholars, think tanks and leaders to embrace a more worldly approach to domestic affairs; to drop the sovereignty in favor of sharing-the-wealth; and to turn to bloated bureaucracies like the United Nations, the World Economic Forum and the Wold Health Organization for direction on matters that would better be left to the feds, the state entities, the local governing bodies to decide — on behalf of American citizens, first and foremost, and not remote countries with governments that are hostile to the United States.
Blame it on the growing corporate reach-out and subsequent Big Business, Big Tech concessionary approach to China’s markets — for instance, the Mark Zuckerberg-Meta censorship agreement with communists just to gain entry into the overseas market.
“Meta compromised U.S. national security and freedom of speech to do business with China, a company whistleblower testified before U.S. senators,” Radio Free Asia reported.
“Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former global policy director at Facebook, told the U.S. Senate … that Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg personally designed and implemented a content review tool for Facebook that was used in Hong Kong and Taiwan,” the news site went on.
Meanwhile, the NBA stands by as China censors Celtic players who criticize the communist country.
As Foreign Policy wrote back in 2019: “The NBA Is China’s Willing Tool.”
Meanwhile, Hollywood executives censor their films so as to sell and show their productions in the communist country.
“How China Is Taking Control of Hollywood,” The Heritage Foundation once wrote.
“Made in Hollywood, Censored by Beijing,” Pen American wrote in 2020.
Meanwhile, Republicans —Republicans! — have joined with the Democrats in opening arms to China’s influences.
“The share of Republicans with an unfavorable view of China is down 8 points since 2024,” Pew wrote, “including a 16-point drop in the share with a very unfavorable view. … Republicans are 14 points less likely than they were in 2024 to label China as an enemy of the U.S.”
All that — all that taken together — all that taken together and more — has had a cumulative effect of watering down the narratives of China as a danger to America, as a peril to free societies around the world. Communism has very nearly become just another word; no more threatening to some than capitalism; indeed, even less threatening to some than capitalism.
This is when the threat of communism becomes greatest.
When the threat still stands but perceptions of the threat are softened, the threat itself grows greater.
From Pew: “The share of Americans who call China an enemy of the U.S., rather than a partner or a competitor, has also fallen. One-third now hold this view, down from 42 percent last year.”
China, the great communist evil, now seen by a growing share of Americans as a competitor, a partner, a business ally — and coming soon, a force for good?
The greater Americans’ acceptance of China grows, the greater China’s danger to America grows, as well. After all, it’s not if China has dropped its communist ways, or its vision to dominate the world’s markets and global governments. It’s only that Americans are failing to recognize communism as evil.
And those who cannot see and identify the enemy are doomed to be defeated at the hands of the enemy.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “God-Given Or Bust: Defeating Marxism and Saving America With Biblical Truths,” is available by clicking HERE.
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