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With September come new beginnings, and new sections to Beyond The Water’s Edge! While we’ll continue to showcase featured articles and Advisory Board member contributions, we are adding a new section with my thoughts each week– from quarter-baked to fully-baked, depending on the moment! – about a pressing issue for U.S. foreign policy. Our Coalition is filled with people from a variety of different perspectives, so we’re hoping these thoughts will spark new ideas and open debate.
This week, I'm concerned by what appears to be a rising delta between the administration's rhetoric on China and its actions. While President Trump rightly promised toughness against our leading adversary – with some even worrying the focus on China would be so all-consuming it would exclude confronting other challenges abroad - so far it feels more like a rapprochement. Just within the past few weeks, we have seen the White House create an official TikTok account, conduct negotiations on granting Nvidia export licenses to sell advanced chips to China, and announce it will provide 600,000 visas to Chinese nationals to study at American universities. Even if some or all of these decisions are reversed, there seems to be a pattern of openness to China that doesn’t align with the president’s campaign promises – nor does it align with his voters’ expectations.
According to our latest monthly poll, 85 percent of Trump voters are at least moderately concerned about the CCP accessing U.S. data on TikTok, 91 percent believe it is important that the United States maintain superiority over China in science and technology, and 91 percent are concerned about the influence of CCP-sponsored Chinese Students and Scholars Associations, which according to the U.S. Department of State “engage in coercive, deceptive, or illegal activities,” including spying on Chinese students. And yet, none of these concerns are reflected in the latest White House announcements. Maybe that’s why 60 percent of Trump voters are calling for tougher policies on China. What the American people seem to already know – and what the White House needs to remember quickly - is that this is a matter of U.S. sovereignty. These policies grant the CCP an open door to influence the United States, spy on our people, and steal our critical technologies – in exchange for, it seems, some revenue. Trading America’s future for some cash and a little political expediency is a far cry from a foreign policy that puts America first, and it will have significant long-term ramifications for our nation if we don’t course correct soon
- Carrie Filipetti, Executive Director of The Vandenberg Coalition
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