Ep | 63 A China Cold War Strategy

According to their website, presentdangerchina.org, the mission of the “Committee on the Present Danger: China” is to help defend America through public education and advocacy against the full array of conventional and non-conventional dangers posed by the People’s Republic of China. As with the Soviet Union in the past, Communist China represents an existential and ideological threat to the United States and to the idea of freedom—one that requires a new American consensus regarding the policies and priorities required to defeat this threat. And for this purpose, it is necessary to bring to bear the collective skills, expertise and energies of a diverse group of experts on China, national security practitioners, human rights and religious freedom activists and others who have joined forces under the umbrella of the “Committee on Present Danger: China.” The original Committee on the Present Danger was originally "formed in 1950 by citizens concerned about Soviet Communism’s influence in the west. It was designed as a 'citizen's lobby' to alert the nation to the Soviet 'present danger,' and the resultant need to adopt the NSC-68 agenda in order to survive. NSC-68 was a top secret National Security Council document written by Paul H. Nitze promoting a US led national security strategy for the purpose of rolling back communist influence in the world. As a result of efforts such as these both in and out of government, the recommendations of NSC-68 were adopted. President Harry S. Truman adopted a policy of containment and the strategy that ultimately led to the downfall of the Soviet Union’s Communist Party. The Cold War and an era of confrontation policies short of all out war became a political reality in the United States. One of the largest reasons the USSR was such a threat was its development and investment in a nuclear weapons arsenal and delivery capabilities to match the USA and the western alliance, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Europe and around the globe. But, China has not openly engaged in a nuclear weapon buildup that is capable of even matching, let alone achieving supremacy over the USA and the West so using that as a driving force for the new CPD: China effort is not likely to be a key part of the new effort. However, the COVID-19 Wuhan China virus coverup and disinformation campaign by the Chinese Communist Party against the United States clearly reveals the Chinese Communists are engaged in an all out effort to influence our allies and enemies alike that China is not only a near peer competitor aimed at increasing the prosperity of its country, but engaged in a strategy to challenge the world’s remaining democracies and the freedoms they represent. Any new cold war strategy will be different than the NSC-68 policy but how? My guest today is Frank J. Gaffney Jr. Executive Chairman of the Center for Security Policy, a not-for-profit, non-partisan educational corporation established in 1988. Under President Ronald Reagan, he acted as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy. He served as chairman of the High-Level Group (NATO’s senior politico-military committee) and as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of defense for Nuclear Forces and Arms Control Policy under Assistant Secretary Richard Perle. He was also a Professional Staff Member on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Mr. Gaffney is the Vice Chairman of the Committee on the Present Danger: China.