I would re-name the malaise from which we suffer CHINA-19. The acronym might stand for something like China’s Highly Infectious National Arsenal — readers can supply their own candidates — though the 19 is only a very specific temporal designator. The problem of China dates from the time of Nixon’s reopening of diplomatic relations in 1972 to the present moment. One recalls the Bushes’ preoccupation with Iraq when the menace was always Jimmy Carter’s Iran. Similarly, the media and Democratic obsession with Russia Russia Russia! was not only wrong and meretricious but completely beside the point; the political and economic threat was always China.
Proposed solutions to the problem of our continued vulnerability to viral epidemics abound, the most significant of which is radical decoupling from China. There has already been considerable friction over trade, cyber espionage and technology — the controversy over Huawei and 5G being an example of the latter. The COVID pandemic has brought matters to a head.
Senator Tom Cotton wants to ban Chinese students from studying in the U.S. in order to put a stop to the Chinese theft of American cultural property. President Trump is taking the issue seriously, considering the possibility of restricting student visas for Chinese students studying or wishing to study in the U.S. Are these feasible solutions to the problem of infiltration into the most critical sectors of the American scientific, technological, military and information structures and institutions?
“It is wrong to cast an entire group of students, professors, and scientists as a threat to our country based simply on where they come from,” said Patrick Toomey, an ACLU staff lawyer. ” But is it wrong? Is facile moralizing an appropriate response to a severe medical, technological and economic crisis? Mistakes will certainly be made, but considering that the ACLU is an alt-left, anti-conservative outfit, its advocacy has to be regarded with extreme suspicion.
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See Also:
(1) The Failed Experiment of Social Distancing
(2) The War between Experience and Credentials
(3) What’s the Real Story Behind Continuing Lockdowns?
(4) Justice Department Intervenes against Northam’s Communal Worship Restrictions
(5) ‘Too much damage’: Insurers reject coronavirus claims as business losses mount
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