Facts At Your Fingertips
Projecting Power
After decades of peaceful economic development, the leadership of the People’s Republic of China has begun projecting its newfound power in ways that threaten to undermine our democratic processes, values, and institutions. As a result, America must reevaluate its relationship with China and find ways to counter its attempts to challenge our ideals of a free and open society.
Three Broad Principles
In light of growing evidence of China’s interference in important sectors of America’s government and society, we recommend three broad principles to protect the integrity of our institutions.
Investigate and Monitor
American NGOs can investigate and monitor illicit actions by China, and Congress and executive branch agencies should publicize and penalize inappropriate Chinese influence activities.
Awareness
The Chinese American community should be informed about potentially inappropriate activities by the Chinese government.
Protecting the Rights of Chinese Americans
While rigorous efforts should be made to inform the Chinese American community about potentially inappropriate activities by the Chinese government, utmost efforts should also be taken to protect the rights of Chinese Americans, as well as the rights of Chinese citizens living or studying in America, so that we do not risk a new era of McCarthy-like stigmatization.
Building Durable Relationship
Our goals must be to protect our democratic traditions, institutions, and nation, while creating a fairer and more reciprocal relationship between the United States and China. Persuading China to adhere to international norms of fairness and reciprocity may be exceedingly difficult and even create some risks, but it is the only path to a healthier, more durable relationship between our two countries.