The CCP has continued to arrest and detain Hong Kong pro-democracy activists. Recently, the US’s executive and legislative branches of government have taken measures to show support for Hong Kong people’s fight for democracy and impose sanctions against the CCP regime.

The US House of Representatives has passed the “Hong Kong People’s Freedom and Choice Act” unanimously. The act will allow Hong Kong residents who are in the US and those who are worried about China’s political prosecution to apply for a Temporary Protected Status, which allows them to apply for residence and asylum. US President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming national security adviser Jake Sullivan also expressed on Twitter his opposition to China’s infringement of Hong Kong’s freedom, saying that he will help those persecuted seek asylum. In addition, the Trump administration has imposed a fresh round of sanctions against Chinese officials over allegations that China has undermined the democratic process in Hong Kong. Fourteen vice-chairmen of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee are on the list.

The CCP, which considers itself the “Celestial Empire”, has ridden roughshod over human rights and carried out a purge on dissidents in China’s periphery. The situations in Hong Kong and Xinjiang have continued to deteriorate and attracted widespread attention. To the Beijing authorities, Hong Kong and Xinjiang are on the periphery of China not only geographically – they also pose a challenge to China’s governance psychologically. The reason is that the cultural and national identities in Hong Kong and Xinjiang are a challenge to the legitimacy of the CCP’s rule over ethnic minorities.

The CCP cannot tolerate challenges from China’s periphery, which is why it has adopted the National Security Law for Hong Kong to purge the city of its democrats. This is also why the CCP has cracked down on the Uighurs with re-education camps in Xinjiang. The CCP’s mode of governance of China’s periphery has revealed an authoritarian regime’s nature of intolerance towards dissidents and disregard for human rights. Democratic countries around the world should work together to prevent China from continuing to erode human rights and democracy.

Under the leadership of Donald Trump, the US has vastly and comprehensively adjusted its policies towards China. Economically it has waged a trade war against China and stopped paying economic dividends to it. In terms of diplomacy and security, it has been constructing an Indian Pacific strategy to contain China’s ambition of building a regional hegemony. As for culture and education, it has shut down Confucius Institutes to curb China’s sharp power and scotch the spread of its espionage. In the information and digital fields, it has even imposed a wholesale ban on Huawei to prevent Chinese-funded corporations from posing a potential threat to the US by exploiting its information security loopholes.

As Trump has lost his reelection bid, the international community has begun to pay attention to whether Joe Biden, the incumbent president, will inherit Trump’s policies towards China and continue to prevent China’s threat from spilling over in areas such as economics, diplomacy, security, culture, education and information.

The countdown to Trump’s last day as president has begun. Still, Trump continues to impose sanctions against the CCP regime. That such sanctions have been carried out through legislation has made the US’s diplomatic framework towards the CPC even more concrete. As for the continuity of the law, after Biden takes office next year, his administration will have to implement its policies towards China within the framework constructed during Trump’s presidency even if it might adjust its policies towards China.

Before the year 1990, China was not ranked among the top ten economies in the world despite being the world’s most populous country. After China’s rise, it became the world’s second-biggest economy within just 30 years or so. Not only is it closing its gap with the US continuously, but it is also extremely likely it will overtake the US in the future. As for its military, China ranks among the world’s biggest military nations in terms of the military budget, number of soldiers and number of weapons. With such immense socio-economic might, China is governing its ethnic minorities and periphery with an authoritarian and violent approach. It is a threat to the security and stability of its neighbors and the region. Not only does it threaten the Asia Pacific, but it is also a common enemy of the values of democracy and human rights around the world.

In the past, Western countries have pursued an appeasement policy towards China. It hoped that by aiding China’s economic growth, the middle class would expand, which would induce the democratic transformation of the authoritarian regime internally. This has been the path taken by Western industrial nations in their political developments. However, it can now be seen that China’s economic rise has not brought about a democratic transformation but an even greater totalitarian threat instead. Domestically, it has suppressed dissidents and persecuted ethnic minorities even more heavy-handedly. In the international arena, it has brought uncertainty with its damage to regional stability and peace.

Now that the appeasement approach has proved to be a failure, democratic nations in the world should be united. They should not stand back in the face of the CCP’s suppression of dissidents in places like Hong Kong and Xinjiang. They should strike a firm stance to curb the continued expansion of the CCP in the face of its regional hegemony and behavior that damages stability. If the CCP regime’s expansion is allowed to expand, not only will human rights within China continue to wither, but democracy and human rights around the globe will also be harmed.

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