Freedom

Opinion by Tom Rogan

Courtesy of the Chinese Communist Party, we have a new vision for world order. The proposal released on Tuesday, “A Global Community of Shared Future,” is designed as a framework to replace the U.S.-led international order of democratic sovereignty. Befitting the communist penchant for verbosity, the proposal is rather long. Still, it is notable both for its hypocrisy and its effort to woo developing nations into a Beijing-led autocratic global political structure.

We’re told this new “theoretical structure” effectively “confronts the hegemonic thinking of certain countries that seek supremacy” (translation: the United States). The Chinese Communist Party’s hyperbole is on full display. The paper observes that “some countries’ hegemonic, abusive, and aggressive actions against others, in the form of swindling, plundering, oppression, and the zero-sum game, are causing great harm.” Again, this is a very thinly veiled rebuke of U.S. efforts to organize international resistance to China’s espionage and militarism.

Seeking to contrast its vision with Washington’s, Beijing asserted, “We pursue development and revitalization through our own efforts, rather than invasion or expansion. And everything we do is for the purpose of providing a better life for our people, all the while creating more development opportunities for the entire world, not in order to supersede or subjugate others.”

This must be news to Taiwan, which faces literal invasion from China. It must also be news to South China Sea nations, especially the Philippines, which faces aggressive Chinese “expansion” in its exclusive economic zone. It must also be news to the Uyghur people, subjected to a genocide that doesn’t necessarily support the CCP’s claim that “everything we do is for the purpose of providing a better life for our people.”

Indeed, in a telling slip of the pen, the paper later claimed Beijing’s social modernization involves “cultural-ethical advancement.” That’s a stellar Orwellian term for “annihilating the Uyghur identity.” Similarly, European Union governments concerned about Chinese manufacturing subsidies and African fishermen concerned about Chinese fishing fleets stealing their livelihoods might not agree that China offers “more development opportunities for the entire world.”

The silliness continues with Beijing’s claim that “we should respect nature, follow its ways, and protect it. We should firmly pursue green, low-carbon, circular and sustainable development.” Again, China’s rapacious fishing fleets and soaring construction of dirty coal plants don’t exactly testify to China’s honesty here. Next, we’re told that “countries should respect each others sovereignty and territorial integrity.” Except, presumably, if it’s Russia’s war on Ukraine, which China actively enables. Or Taiwan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Or that of the Philippines.

Fortunately, we learn that China “does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.” This will be a relief to the security services of nations from the Netherlands to New Zealand to the United Kingdom to Canada to the U.S., all of which are targeted by vast Chinese influence and espionage campaigns.

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My sarcasm aside, it’s clear that there is a deep insecurity bubbling below the surface of this document. This is clearest when the claim that “democracy and freedom are the common goals of humanity. There is no single model of democracy that is universally applicable, far less a superior one.” China’s governance model is, of course, the antithesis of “freedom” or any basic notion of democracy. But were the CCP to admit that it governs without the consent of the Chinese people, it knows its new world order might not seem so desirable to the rest of the world.