When the United States commenced serious trade relations with China in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the hypothesis of policymakers was that a capitalist market in China would segue into a Western-style, democratic, representative government. As China carries on its 40th Chinese Communist Party Congress this week, where Xi Jinping is expected to be granted an unprecedented third term and named “President for Life,” Americans can now only regret the naïveté of the leaders who enabled and empowered the rise of the communist regime that is now an existential threat worldwide.
But as we bemoan the naïveté of George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and the 106th Congress, Americans should also take heed. For we have not only failed to “convert” China from communist authoritarianism to the ways of democratic society, as we had hoped, but also we have made our own society more authoritarian in a manner that mimics some aspects of China….