Is Helpful To U.S. Interests When Secretary Of State Pompeo Uses “Communist Party of China” Rather Than “China” Or “President Xi”?
Is Helpful To U.S. Interests When Secretary Of State Pompeo Uses “Communist Party of China” Rather Than “China” Or “President Xi”?
Using “Islamic Republic Of Iran” Was Designed To Delegitimize Iran
Secretary Pompeo, Vice President Pence, Messrs. Kudlow And Mr. Navarro Reference What President Trump Does Not
Will President Trump Directly Hold Responsible President Xi?
When referring Iran by its formal name “Islamic Republic of Iran,” The Honorable Michael Pompeo, United States Secretary of State, sought to connect behavior with religion- to delegitimize religious ideology and theology.
When Secretary Pompeo references the “Communist Party of China” the goal is to delegitimize political behavior based upon ideology.
There are five countries governed by communist parties: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, People’s Republic of China, Republic of Cuba, and Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
However, the People’s Republic of China is quite different in terms of global consequence than is the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The Communist Party of China (CPC) manages the world’s largest country by population, the world’s largest active military, the world’s largest foreign exchange reserves, the world’s second-largest economy, the third-largest United States trading relationship (US$558.8 billion in 2019- exports US$106.6 billion and imports US$452.2 billion), and the experience of COVID-19.
The People’s Republic of China has 1.4 billion citizens. The Communist Party of China has approximately 90.5 million members.
In the United States, the Democratic Party has approximately 45.7 million members and the Republican Party has approximately 33.2 million members. The population of the United States is approximately 329.6 million.
With Iran, the goal of the Trump Administration is to demean the religious decision-making structure of the system of government adopted by the 83.8 million citizens of the country. The targets are citizens of the country dissatisfied with current governance and leadership in countries who might be persuaded to adopt the moniker and support the United States.
With the People’s Republic of China, the Trump Administration goal is similar to that focused towards Iran- to fracture the government from the population- create a narrative that holding accountable H.E. Xi Jinping, President, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and Chairman of the Central Military Commission is less important than holding the body, the structure over which he presides accountable for commercial, economic and political decisions, including those relating to COVID-19.
In June 2020, Secretary Pompeo during 4,058-word remarks to the Virtual Copenhagen Democracy Summit, referenced “General Secretary Xi” once and referenced “Chinese Communist Party” twenty-one times.
During a May 2020 interview, using 1,838 words to answer eight questions, Secretary Pompeo referenced “Chinese Communist Party” fifteen times, referenced “communist regimes” one time, and referenced “China” five times. He did not reference President Xi.
In May 2020, Secretary Pompeo shared “We’ve been very clear to the Chinese Communist Party they have a special responsibility,” and “This virus originated in Wuhan. They have a special responsibility to share with the world the data, the information, the need to be transparent.”
In May 2020, The Honorable Peter Navarro, Assistant to the President and Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, shared “President Trump “built the most powerful and beautiful economy in the world in three years,” but, “the Chinese communist party took it down in 60 days.”
In October 2019, Secretary Pompeo shared “Today, we’re finally realizing the degree to which the Communist Party is truly hostile to the United States and our values ... and we are able to do this because of the leadership of President Trump.”
In October 2018, The Honorable Lawrence Kudlow, Assistant to the President and Director of the National Economic Council shared “It’s really the president and the Chinese Communist party, they have to make a decision, and so far they have not, or they have made a decision not to do anything, nothing. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
In October 2018, The Honorable Mike Pence, Vice President of the United States, shared” When our young nation went searching in the wake of the Revolutionary War for new markets for our exports, the Chinese people welcomed American traders laden with ginseng and fur. When China suffered through indignities and exploitations during her so-called “Century of Humiliation,” America refused to join in, and advocated the “Open Door” policy, so that we could have freer trade with China, and preserve their sovereignty. When American missionaries brought the good news to China’s shores, they were moved by the rich culture of an ancient and vibrant people. And not only did they spread their faith, but those same missionaries founded some of China’s first and finest universities. When the Second World War arose, we stood together as allies in the fight against imperialism. And in that war’s aftermath, America ensured that China became a charter member of the United Nations, and a great shaper of the post-war world. But soon after it took power in 1949, the Chinese Communist Party began to pursue authoritarian expansionism. It is remarkable to think that only five years after our nations had fought together, we fought each other in the mountains and valleys of the Korean Peninsula. My own father saw combat on that frontier of freedom.”
The The Honorable Steven Mnuchin, United States Secretary of the Treasury, The Honorable Robert Lighthizer, United States Trade Representative, and The Honorable Robert O’Brien, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, have been focusing their remarks towards the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) or CPC.
Yet, there is one voice absent, that of the Honorable Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, whose remarks last week about COVID-19 and the People’s Republic of China included: “They should have never let this happen… So, I make a great trade deal and now I say this doesn’t feel the same to me… The ink was barely dry and the plague came over… And it doesn’t feel the same to me… But I just- right now I don’t want to speak to him… There are many things we could do… We could do things… We could cut off the whole relationship… Now, if you did, what would happen? You’d save US$500 billion.”
For President Trump, preserving the appearance of “a good relationship” with heads of state and heads of government is most important to protecting his brand- to be able to make deals. He certainly feels betrayed by President Xi because the People’s Republic of China is making him look bad, look ineffective, and, most punishingly, look weak.
President Trump is doing all possible to project away from President Xi direct responsibility for COVID-19.
President Trump believes large organizations can make stupid decisions and implement stupid decisions; governments are no different from large companies… and from voters on occasion.
He also manifestly believes decisions of leadership can be, and perhaps should be disconnected from decisions implemented by the organization, by the government, by the legislatures. The position that the president can and often should be separated from decisions taken by his/her government (and legislatures) if those decisions are not supported by the president.
The United States relationship with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, and Republic of Turkey are examples of this dysconnectivity- the Trump Administration and the United States Congress have differing opinions from the President and, where possible, the President has thwarted statutes, regulations and policies towards specific countries where he believes they would negatively impact his “personal” and “strong” relationships.
Not dissimilar from when President Trump separated those who in 2018 murdered journalist (and United States resident with two children who are United States citizens) Mr. Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, Turkey. Evidence presented to the President linking the decision to murder Mr. Khashoggi to thirty-four-year-old Mohammed bin Salman Abdulaziz al-Saud, Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was dismissed because the Crown Prince had told the President that he, the Crown Prince, did not know about it- and because the President believes the commercial relationship with Saudi Arabia, primarily the export of military equipment, is more important to the United States than holding publicly accountable the Crown Prince for a criminal act not on United States soil and not involving a United States citizen (distinction from United States resident).
For United States companies, can and should President Trump ignore a marketplace of potentially 1.4 billion people because of the impact of COVID-19? President Trump does not like having a trade deficit with the People’s Republic of China, but is a deficit preferable having United States products and services absent from the market?
When President Xi informs President Trump that he, President Xi, did not withhold information about COVID-19 from President Trump and other countries, the Trump Administration will contortion itself to believe President Xi- and direct responsibility towards those reporting to President Xi, and to the Communist Part of China.
Why? Because President Trump appreciates that should he be re-elected on 3 November 2020 to another four-year term, from the moment he is declared the winner, and certainly at 12:00 pm on 20 January 2021 when he says “I do” and begins his second and final term in office, he will be considered mortal rather than the somewhat immortal prefect he has, in the view of many, come to represent. The unknown is whether he will adopt different behavior or turbo-charge existing behaviors.
From 3 November 2020, if President Trump is re-elected, most of the Communist Party of China, most of the collective leadership of the twenty-seven member European Union (EU), most of the 120 members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), most of the thirteen members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and leadership of other countries with meaningful commercial, economic and political relationships with the United States will be modeling how to a) sustain the status quo for 1,460 days and for others b) roll-forward or roll-back what is rollable.
If nearing 3 November 2020 President Trump believes that the impact of COVID-19 is a clear and present danger to his re-election, and the People’s Republic of China has not met the criteria of Phase 1 of the bilateral trade agreement negotiated by the Trump Administration, will President Trump need to attach a name to who is to blame? Will that name be President Xi Jinping?
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