Is Communist China a threat to the United States?  The answer is yes, and not for the size of its population or because it is a global economic competitor.  No, China is dangerous because of the communist ideology advanced by the President Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).  It is a revolutionary, totalitarian ideology that seeks to break the Western order and create a situation ripe for Chinese dominance of the international system. 

But what is communism?  Communism is a system of centralized political power in which a single-party dictatorship abolishes private property and controls the means of production and the distribution of goods and services.  Under the pretense of a classless, egalitarian society, Communist regimes in practice rely on force, use brutality, and repress speech, religion, assembly, and all other rights and freedoms. 

At its heart, Chinese communism is rooted in Karl Marx’s belief that he had uncovered a scientific and materialist explanation for the unfolding of history.  To hasten the move from “unequal” industrial economies to complete government ownership of the economic sphere (socialism) to absolute government control of all aspects of life (communism), Marx’s intellectual heirs – Lenin and Mao – argued that an elite cadre (“vanguard”) were justified in using violence, lies, and terror to advance their agenda, eliminate all opposition, and impose the communist blueprint. 

Unfortunately, many will retort Beijing’s ideology has been one of capitalism or state capitalism since the reforms of Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s.  But that is true in neither theory nor practice.  The CCP has instigated the theft of intellectual property on a global scale while employing mass surveillance, espionage, and slave labor.  This is an ‘ends justify the means’ revolutionary doctrine at work.  Moreover, Marxists call for the party elite to control “the means of production,” and China’s economy is one where the CCP, the military, and other apparatchiks either manage or can directly intervene anywhere in the economy at any time.  As one writer observes, “Under Xi, ideology drives policy more often than the other way around. Xi has pushed politics to the Leninist Left [and] economics to the Marxist Left …” 

Despite the CCP’s claims of consensus-building and working to emancipate the workers to achieve national equality, the fact is Chinese communism serves to enrich an elite class of party leadership while justifying their oppressive rule as a service to the country.   Moreover, just like past communist regimes, President Xi has created a cult of personality around himself, buttressed by the public adulation of party members.  This quasi-religious cult of personality emphasizes the leader’s superhuman wisdom, benevolence, energy, and parental compassion.  Such individuals – Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Ceausescu, the Kim dynasty, Castro, Chavez and the like – can do no wrong, say no wrong, think no wrong, and are wrapped in gauzy symbols and slogans.   

The repression of China’s national minorities and totalitarian control of its population do not necessarily threaten the United States.  But besides these human rights violations, with real consequences for global economic competitiveness, Beijing has set itself in ideological opposition to Western values.  Let’s be clear: Western values, which esteem the dignity of the individual, family, religious and private institutions, and the like are now universal values.  Yes, as former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd writes in Foreign Affairs, “he [Xi] portrays his agenda as a step forward in an ever-intensifying contest between the CCP and reactionary forces at home…and abroad (the United States and its allies).”  

Perhaps the most famous documentary evidence of this is from April 22, 2013, at the CCP’s 18th National Congress led by President Xi. In a section titled “noteworthy problems related to the current state of the ideological sphere,” the Chinese government notes that Western constitutional democracy is a challenge to the Chinese system of government.  The promotion of universal values—in other words, human rights—weakens the theoretical foundations of the party’s leadership.  

Promoting economic liberalism—in other words, capitalism, privatization, and marketization—and opposing interference or regulation by the state are seen as ideological attempts to change China’s basic economic system.  Moreover, journalism, they argue, should be subject to party discipline.  The public is urged to avoid perspectives that clearly deviate from the ideology of socialism with Chinese characteristics.  The 2013 document goes on to tell us what must be done, which is that key leaders must pay close attention to the war of ideas, inside and outside of China.  How do they do this?  By carefully watching the ideological sphere, guiding the nation through unwavering adherence to the principle of the party’s control of media, and  conscientiously strengthening management of the ideological battlefield.  

The United States must do a better job understanding the ideological convictions of China’s leadership.  The United States must recognize that the CCP makes decisions informed by Marxist ideology, not out of regard for improving the lives of China’s many citizens, and therefore displays a revolutionary willingness to break international laws and conventions in pursuit of the CCP’s self-preservation and further aggrandizement. President Xi and his lieutenants are not 21^st-century robber barons motivated by personal pleasure or greed.  Rather, we are dealing with a disciplined, ideologically-driven revolutionary cadre bent on firmly cementing control over China and as much of the world as can be brought into their orbit.