China hawks call on America to fight a new Cold War

04/12/2019

By Josh Rogin
April 10, 2019

A group of conservatives — many of whom fought in the Cold War against the Soviet Union — are now openly campaigning for a similar approach to China. They are calling for a national movement to encourage the Chinese Communist Party’s destruction, root out sympathetic forces at home and combat Chinese aggression across their world.

Their effort is controversial both due to the message and the messengers. A concerted pushback against Beijing is long overdue. But their effort runs the risk of politicizing what should be a unified national effort.

The leaders of Committee on the Present Danger: China include Reagan administration official Frank Gaffney and former White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, and its members include several former defense and intelligence officials. They are sounding an alarm about the China threat and framing the U.S.-China relationship as an existential struggle between two civilizations that have irreconcilably opposed plans for the world order.

According to this new group, the United States has no choice but to make the containment and eventual ending of Chinese Communist Party rule the premier mission of U.S. foreign policy — essentially engaging in a new Cold War.