Commentary While researching how Americans having been getting rich by helping the Chinese Communist Party achieve its outspoken aim of replacing the United States as the “world’s No.1 power,” I came across the phrase “elite capture”—their term to describe the actions of influential people in the U.S. towards China. “Elite capture” can refer to different things, but to the Chinese Communist Party, China’s intelligence apparatus, or those involved in quasi-private business ventures, it is a crucial tool of their success. The idea is simple enough: by tempting another country’s elite with money, access, and favors, you move them to see their interests and China’s interests as intertwined or even the same. The Chinese are not subtle about this, and they barely try to hide it. They practice it around the world, most notably in Africa in pursuit of their Belt and Road Initiative. But elites in Western democracies have proved to be …