Appeasing Xi invites conflict

As Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo prepares for the fourth trip to China in recent weeks by a pandering U.S. Cabinet officer, her department announced that 27 Chinese companies would be removed from its so-called “Entities List.” Supposedly, Biden administration concerns about American exports to those companies improving the capabilities of China’s military have been satisfactorily addressed.

Now, any exports of inherently dual-use technologies to the Chinese Communist Party will wind up in the hands of its People’s Liberation Army. Period. 

Worse yet, green-lighting such transfers under present circumstances can only reinforce Xi Jinping’s expectations that he’ll be rewarded, not punished, for more belligerence. That’s a formula for a shooting war.

We must deter, not encourage such a prospect via further, rank appeasement – especially in the face of the CCP’s intensifying assault on the dollar and unmistakable preparations for conflict. 

This is Frank Gaffney.