For decades, the West believed engagement would transform China—that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would gradually embrace markets, law, and liberty. It was a fantasy. Three decades later, the CCP has not joined the postwar liberal order. It has collided with it.

Peaceful coexistence with the CCP is not improbable. It is likely impossible. How much do you know about the CCP? See if you can find the lie.

A. The CCP is a closed society.

B. The CCP positions itself as a market economy, but it is authoritarian mercantilism.

C. The CCP seeks cooperation with the U.S. 

A. TRUTH! China’s society is built on control, not openness. Nearly 300,000 Chinese students study in America each year, yet fewer than 1,000 Americans are allowed to study in China. This imbalance is deliberate. The CCP drains knowledge from the free world while denying its citizens access to truth. Within China’s digital iron curtain, the Communist Party dictates what 1.4 billion citizens are allowed to read, watch, and think. For example, millions now believe the false claim that COVID-19 originated in a U.S. military laboratory. A government that lies to its own people will never deal honestly with others.

B. TRUTH! The Chinese Communist Party claims to support free markets, but in practice, it runs the economy like an authoritarian monopoly. Chinese companies can freely invest in the United States, yet American firms in China face censorship, surveillance, and pressure to hand over their technology. When billionaire Jack Ma criticized Party officials, he disappeared from public view for half a decade—a warning to every Chinese entrepreneur that their success depends on obedience, not innovation. Even Western brands are punished for speaking the truth. In 2021, the global clothing company H&M was erased from Chinese shopping sites after it condemned the use of forced labor in Xinjiang. The message was clear: In China, profit depends on silence. This isn’t capitalism—it’s a system where the Party sets the rules, controls the markets, and punishes anyone who refuses to play along.

C. LIE! The CCP does not seek cooperation—it seeks dominance. Its Belt and Road Initiative traps poorer nations in debt, exchanging loans for control of ports, power plants, and infrastructure. It has militarized the South China Sea, threatened Taiwan, and bankrolled Russia’s war in Ukraine. These are not the actions of a peace-seeking nation. They are the moves of a totalitarian power intent on rewriting global rules in its own image.

Bottom Line: 

The Chinese Communist Party is not misunderstood—it is malignant by design.
Its system—rooted in secrecy, coercion, and party supremacy—cannot coexist with a free world built on openness, reciprocity, and the rule of law.

History is clear: Appeasement of totalitarian regimes never prevents conflict; it invites it. The CCP is moving from adversary to enemy.

America must meet this moment with moral clarity, strategic strength, and the unity of purpose that freedom demands.