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The China-Only Republicans
National Security Journal ^ | 7/18/2024 | Alexander Motyl

Posted on 07/18/2024 11:35:54 AM PDT by whyilovetexas111

The Republican concern with China’s threat to America is understandable, arguably even laudable, as many of China’s economic, security, and human rights policies do, in fact, challenge America.

When that laudable concern turns into a single-minded obsession, however, then it does more than a disservice to America. It becomes exactly that which it was supposed to deter: a threat to America’s security.

Both former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, along with the Heritage Foundation and scores of conservative analysts, suffer from this obsession.

If China were the only big country that matters in the world, the China-only camp would be right. But because China isn’t the only country that matters to U.S. interests, the China-only camp is wrong. This is elementary.

The China-only camp could counter that while it’s definitely true that India, Brazil, Mexico, Europe, and Nigeria also matter, China outdoes them in terms of strategic importance that a China-only foreign policy is warranted.

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalsecurityjournal.org ...


TOPICS: Government; History; Military/Veterans; Politics
KEYWORDS: china; donaldtrump; jdvance
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I don't agree with this but thought it was worth posting. Is MAGA too focused on China? What about Russia or Iran? Would love to know what people think.
1 posted on 07/18/2024 11:35:54 AM PDT by whyilovetexas111
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To: whyilovetexas111

Did China pay someone to write this?


2 posted on 07/18/2024 11:38:34 AM PDT by ComputerGuy (Heavily-medicated for your protection)
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To: whyilovetexas111

I’ve never been a China-only Repubican. I’ve used Pfalzgraff, Mikasa (which is also sukasa as well), even Dixie in spite of being from Philly, mostly when barbecue-ing outside.


3 posted on 07/18/2024 11:41:04 AM PDT by chajin ("There is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12)
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To: whyilovetexas111

Motyl: How to say I’m an idiot without saying it.

And that’s the giving him the benefit of the doubt (which he probably doesn’t deserve) alternate title.


4 posted on 07/18/2024 11:41:24 AM PDT by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: whyilovetexas111

Someone thinks their payments from Peking are threatened.


5 posted on 07/18/2024 11:44:24 AM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: whyilovetexas111

Any time we’re discussing threats, one must be clear on what one means. From my middle-aged perspective, the Republican Party has (for too long) been captured by the need to intervene globally when it’s “in our interests” (sometimes you hear the phrase “national interest” or “strategic interest” used). Since World War II this catchphrase has been used to justify all manner of imperialistic behavior which has lead us to where we are today.

I was once a supporter of this type of thinking (until 2 things happened). 1) I became more knowledgeable about US history and it’s lineage of perpetual expansion since it’s birth (either through direct territorial expansion or the establishment of puppet-regimes). and 2) The disasters of Iraq and especially Afghanistan. These two recent examples demonstrated to me what the Uniparty was willing to do to our own country as long as they could engage in economic and cultural imperialism around the globe. We are still witnessing the ferocity with which they desire to cling to this unrestrained use of US blood and treasure. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. No nation would need a VA system like ours unless they were consistently engaged in generation-to-generation conflicts. We have been a nation that has not truly known peace for any great length of time. In many cases this has been our own country’s choosing.


6 posted on 07/18/2024 11:48:22 AM PDT by Bishop_Malachi (Liberal Socialism - A philosophy which advocates spreading a low standard of living equally.)
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To: whyilovetexas111

Communist China is a far greater threat than either Russia or Iran.


7 posted on 07/18/2024 11:49:55 AM PDT by rlmorel (J.D. Vance and The Legend of The MaMaw of The 19 Loaded Guns!)
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To: whyilovetexas111
I think the only danger is in constantly using "China" as shorthand for "Chinese Communist Party". Many Chinese-, Taiwanese-, and other Sino-affiliated Americans feel an affinity for their ancestral homeland but not for the CCP. When Republicans insult "Chy-nah" without distinction they can take offense, even though they may agree with more precisely stated criticisms of the CCP.

But I actually think the biggest foreign danger to the USA is the open southern border - close it and many of the problems we have with specific countries will be minimized. Then we can re-focus on freedom's biggest adversary - the Communists who control the European Union.

8 posted on 07/18/2024 11:50:28 AM PDT by Mr. Jeeves ([CTRL]-[GALT]-[DELETE])
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To: whyilovetexas111
The countries the matter the most are the countries that send the most bribe money to Dim leaders and indoctrination centers (universities).

China is #3 on the list of foreign donations to American universities. Qatar is #1 and England #2. IMHO, Qatar is still too much of a small fry. And England isn't too much of an enemy (at least not until it becomes fully Islamacized).

Which right now leaves China as our major enemy influencer in both our indoctrination centers and our politicians' pockets ($3 million total to the Biden crime family and associates).

9 posted on 07/18/2024 11:53:42 AM PDT by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: chajin

😆


10 posted on 07/18/2024 11:56:17 AM PDT by married21 (As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.)
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To: Bishop_Malachi

Issues with Communist China have absolutely nothing to do with imperialism, unless we refer to it as economic imperialism.

Communist China has hollowed out our industrial base and practiced predatory money policies in combination with slave labor to make our products unaffordable or even unavailable to our own population.

And they haven’t invaded Taiwan yet, although I have come to believe they won’t need to.

Define how you use “Imperialism”.

When you say “Perpetual Expansion”, to what do you refer to?

Our push to change regimes from totalitarian regimes to something less than totalitarian?

Our acquisition of the Philippines after the Spanish-American War? Guantanamo Bay in Cuba? The Panama Canal?

Our military bases overseas or the island territories?

Or are you referring to Cultural Imperialism, where kids in Africa want to wear Chicago Bulls baseball caps and women in muslim countries want to wear western clothes?

I am interested in exactly what prism you view “imperialism” in.

If we really were imperialistic as our enemies such as the Soviet Union and Cuba like to accuse us of, why did we give Iraq back to Iraqis? Why didn’t we go in there, pump that place dry of oil, and turn it into a military fortress to be used against other countries in that region to take them over too?


11 posted on 07/18/2024 12:02:22 PM PDT by rlmorel (J.D. Vance and The Legend of The MaMaw of The 19 Loaded Guns!)
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To: ComputerGuy
"Did China pay someone to write this?"

👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆 👀

12 posted on 07/18/2024 12:03:57 PM PDT by Pajamajan (Pray for our nation. Pray for President Trump. Never be a slave in a new Socialist America.)
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To: whyilovetexas111

This is the kind of old-fashioned legacy analysis that uses backward thinking to incorrectly prejudice DJTs foreign policy vision...


13 posted on 07/18/2024 12:07:06 PM PDT by SteveinSATX (Anti-liberalism 24/7)
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To: whyilovetexas111

China is certainly a far bigger threat than Russia, but the Republican neo-cons would disagree.


14 posted on 07/18/2024 12:07:35 PM PDT by Socon-Econ (adi)
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To: chajin

You make a joke regarding dish ware. But I think many of these other comments are off track as well.

Vance’s speech (and other recent speeches) are concerned about the damage that China has done to our economy, with much of our manufacturing gone and now “made in China”. He also spoke of NAFTA (Mexico). While China is a military threat, they are more of a threat to our economy.

And with a weak economy, we are also weak in international power, and our military.


15 posted on 07/18/2024 12:12:40 PM PDT by 21twelve (Ever Vigilant. Never Fearful.)
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To: rlmorel

Yes....China is supporting Iran and Russia, aren’t they?


16 posted on 07/18/2024 12:29:26 PM PDT by goodnesswins (Climate cultists think we should go back to the goo"d times when people starved)
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To: whyilovetexas111
China is the largest and most comprehensive threat to the US, a threat amplified by the de facto alliance with China by Wall Street, Silicon Valley, and the US Chamber of Commerce. Pushback against China -- and domestic complacency about China -- thus has a more urgent aspect than other strategic concerns.

That said, a Trump and MAGA national security grand strategy is not fully evident. Nevertheless, the basic tenets are apparent: peace through strength, economic and technological primacy, and avoidance of war. This is similar to the Eisenhower, Reagan, and Bush I approaches to national security.

The difficulty comes in reconciling a less active US role in the world as to security issues with the US need to tap the world economy in order to finance the immense US federal deficit and debt. Trump's pragmatism and preference for action seem likely to tip the scales toward continuity of American security strategy -- but with an end to free rides and a closer and more demanding calculation of the costs and benefits to America imposed on enemies and allies alike.

17 posted on 07/18/2024 12:32:03 PM PDT by Rockingham
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To: rlmorel
Communist China is a far greater threat than either Russia or Iran.

Correct! This is so easy to understand, I am shocked there is even a debate. For openers, economy size matters, and China economy is bigger by orders of magnitude than Russia or Iran. Actually China economy is probably bigger than even United States based on purchasing power index.

18 posted on 07/18/2024 12:41:34 PM PDT by Bobbyvotes (I will be voting for Trump/whoever he picks VP in November. If he loses in 2024, country is toast.)
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To: whyilovetexas111

Neocon Uke tool is mad that Vance doesn’t care about the new Nazi Uke government.


19 posted on 07/18/2024 12:42:01 PM PDT by DesertRhino (2016 Star Wars, 2020 The Empire Strikes Back, 2024... RETURN OF THE JEDI. )
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To: goodnesswins

Of course they are, their pious denials not withstanding!


20 posted on 07/18/2024 12:47:18 PM PDT by rlmorel (J.D. Vance and The Legend of The MaMaw of The 19 Loaded Guns!)
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