Bottom Line.  While closely clutching China for about half a century, Americans one and all, fragmented by individual interests, somehow “lost track of China”.   We now find ourselves in the starting blocks trying to compete with a brilliant rival well down the track.  The scope and scale of this deadly competitive game afoot is the behemoth for all Americans to now behold.  The danger of Americans not doing this “as one” will prove disastrous – so finally fatal is this competition now clearly upon us.  Losing track of vital focal points as we have done in the past, is not an option.  Failing to compete smartly is still very much a possibility. Knowing what all the dots are is the first challenge.  Connecting them for enduring advantage, is a completely different prospect altogether.  Americans’ effective overwatch of “the system” that got them into present distress is, therefore, center stage in this report.

Aiming Low.   When American Presidential candidates essentially mud wrestled before the entire planet, while conspicuously failing to earn American citizens’ and the rest of freedom-seeking world’s trust and confidence on matters of substance, American leadership achieved a low point for all time.   If we were only so lucky, China’s leadership might well laugh themselves to death over this Tom Foolery.   But American foolishness (and there is no other word more accurate and fitting than this) is now just as demonstrative and exposed as are the Chinese Communists’ authoritarian dominance intentions for the world.   Both are competing, if not compelling, low points for freedom-seeking humanity, in their own right.

Context.   In macro terms today, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) fundamentally represents “the authoritarian quest for total human control”.  This seeks to dominate USA representing the fundamental rights of man by virtue of its enduring founding principles and general historical record.   USA has the distinct disadvantage of allowing the CCP to gain unfair advantage for almost half a century.  This has facilitated systemic American mental and conceptual atrophy in the field of strategic competition across the full spectrum of human interaction.

Situation. The US Government, divided though it is, has fresh resolve in contesting CCP dominance.  The most recent evidence of this can be found in the following reports by the US Government:

• China Task Force Report, US China Task Force, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, published 29 September 2020, https://gop-foreignaffairs.house.gov/blog/china-task-force-report/
• Future of Defense Task Force, Report 2020, House Armed Services Committee, published 23 September 2020, https://armedservices.house.gov/_cache/files/2/6/26129500-d208-47ba-a9f7-25a8f82828b0/6D5C75605DE8DDF0013712923B4388D7.future-of-defense-task-force-report.pdf 

There should be equal amounts of gratitude and congratulation for these initiatives, as well as a corresponding amount of candor and caution.   This is because this much-belated effort invites honest inquiry into the long-standing benighted understanding of and inaction by US Congress.  In this, American politicians and business leaders alike “Bought by China” remain the principle obstacle to progress.  American investors and consumers also remain generally addicted to “Made in China”, which continues to fuel Chinese Communist Party power and power projection.

China, for its part, after 48 years of increasingly uncontested exploitation of USA, has accomplished a wide and deep penetration of America and the rest of the world.  Its resulting weaponization of money now provides hyper-extraordinary, coercive mass, momentum and manipulative power to be countered.   This is not a phase of the strategic game.  It is the end of the game fast approaching.

Nothing surprising here.   The management imperative for USA today and the foreseeable future is one of getting the scope and scale of all that needs to be done absolutely right with pinpoint precision.  Had America’s public and private sector leadership not so thoroughly neglected the scope and scale of “China Matters” since 1972, then one might have confidence that corrective action will now be finally well done by American leadership.   However, if there is a single lesson from recent history, it is that American citizens were essentially abandoned by this trusted leadership for almost half a century.   Such is the beguiling power of personal profit that has been heedless of its devastation to national resilience, national security, and national well-being.   Bottom Line: “We the People” failed to be the watchdogs of errant government and business leaders, as well as of our own strategically-blind consumerism. 

Troubling Indicators.  The points at the link below hint at the nature of Modern No-Rules Unrestricted Competition for Perpetual Positional Advantage – a deadly game the CCP has been waging for decades without effective US counters.   It is one that encompasses all aspects of human interaction across the Peace-Competition-War continuum.  The greatest conceptual challenge that America faces, is one of mentally shifting to a holistically competitive irregular warfare mindset.  This will not likely be well received by an entrenched status quo – the ones who allowed China to disadvantage us for decades.

• Getting over the fact that China, who knew almost nothing of capitalism coming into the 1970s, somehow schooled USA by the superior weaponization of capitalism, the larger issue is this:  For decades, US Government, State Department and Defense Department leadership as a common culture has not developed strategic savvy on real world economics integral to grand strategy.  This has been reflected in the lack of a total integrated strategy in the field of modern no-rules competition.   This link elaborates briefly on the matter: https://thechinafactor.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Chumping-Capitalists-v1.0.pdf
• “China’s show of strength was just the latest diplomatic triumph for Beijing’s drive to sway the system of international organizations in its direction.  As the Trump administration stepped away from many parts of the multinational order established after World War II, China has emerged a chief beneficiary intensifying a methodical, decadelong campaign… Many U.S. allies say that abandoning the field by leaving organizations like WHO offers China a strategic gift…No other nation has its citizens running more than one US agency…Chinese representatives lead four.” China’s decadelong campaign to secure more clout at the United Nations is now helping shield Beijing from international scrutiny, By Yaraslav Trofimov, Drew Hinshaw and Kate O’Keefe (Sept. 29, 2020) https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-china-is-taking-over-international-organizations-one-vote-at-a-time-11601397208
• The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence concludes with a “central finding” that the intelligence community is “not sufficiently adapted to a changing geopolitical and technological environment increasingly shaped by a rising China,” and further states that “absent a significant realignment of resources, the U.S. government and intelligence community will fail to achieve the outcomes required to enable continued U.S. competition with China on the global stage for decades to come, and to protect the U.S. health and security.”   The imperative about “significant realignment of resources” would have one believe the US INTEL Problem is essentially about resources.  Counterpoint:  USA has been playing 2-dimension chess for decades, while China has mastered multi-level chess.  The problem is likely much worse than “just resources” and their realignment.
• The China Deep Dive: A Report on the Intelligence Community’s Capabilities and Competencies with Respect to the People’s Republic of China, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, https://intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hpsci_china_deep_dive_redacted_summary_9.29.20.pdf 
• One aspect of US Intelligence deficiencies lies in systematized data management and exploitation commensurate with the demands of modern competitive environments that USA must succeed in.  This does not cover the circumference of the US INTEL Problem, though it may define the center of it.    
• “The IC (Intelligence Community) is at a critical moment that will require it to adapt and transform.  Rapid advances in technology have led to an explosion in the volume, velocity, and variety of data that the IC can access.  The volume of this data will only increase.   As former DNI Dan Coats said last year, the IC “must find innovative ways to exploit and establish relevance” of its information.⁴ Former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Sue Gordon recently posed an existential question about the IC:  [I]f data exists in ridiculous abundance, and everyone – not just the national security community – understands its value, why are clarity, wisdom, insight, and answers to our most vexing national security and private sector challenges so elusive? And if it’s a world where the threats are to and through data, why do we keep being surprised at our adversaries’ and competitors’ attacks when we don’t invest in security?” What the Intelligence Community Doesn’t Know Is Hurting the United States By Katrina Mulligan, Matt Olsen, and Alexandra Schmitt September 18, 2020 https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/security/reports/2020/09/18/490532/intelligence-community-doesnt-know-hurting-united-states/
• General Waldhauser (Commanding General, AFRICOM) made such a recognition in regards to Russia and this article likewise examines the increasing flexing of “Chinese muscle” through Beijing’s reliance upon PMSCs (Private Military Security Companies). For the United States, it is important to appreciate that China’s growing engagement through economic activities on multiple continents and through multiple policy vehicles will increasingly have a “private” face with respect to security. It is also important to understand that how China will flex its muscle in the future is uncertain.”   China’s Private Military and Security Companies “Chinese Muscle” and the Reasons for U.S. Engagement, By Christopher Spearin, https://search.proquest.com/openview/070a756837d077dce33de9926c77aa3b/1.pdf?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1036428
• This CSIS article addresses competitive CCP realities to be faced by USA.  “This chronology is not an attempt to define the motivations and reasoning behind Chinese grand strategy, rather it attempts to provide a broad historical timeline of Chinese civil, economic, and military actions that affect competition with the United States.  Whether one calls it “gray area” or “hybrid’ warfare, it is clear that operations under this category work in tandem to advance Chinese interests without ever escalating competition to a conventional battle.”  Chronology of Possible Chinese Gray Area and Hybrid Warfare Operations, Anthony H. Cordesman with the assistance of Grace Hwang,  https://csis-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/publication/200702_Burke_Chair_Chinese_Chronology.pdf
• “The Burke Chair (at CSIS) is now issuing a comprehensive revision of this analysis that reflects a wide range of outside comments, and that addresses each major area of competition in depth – providing some 30 different graphs, tables, and maps that illustrate or compare U.S., Russian, and Chinese actions.   It addresses the… major aspects of strategic competition between the U.S., Russia, and China – highlighting their impact on other nations and America’s strategic partners in the process:” U.S. Competition with China and Russia: The Crisis-Driven Need to Change U.S. Strategy, By Anthony H. Cordesman with the assistance of Grace Hwang, August 14, 2020 https://www.csis.org/analysis/us-competition-china-and-russia-crisis-driven-need-change-us-strategy 

Marxism Trumps.  The indicators above reinforce that Chinese Marxists think, strategize and act holistically, as well as in a disciplined, integrated manner.  By contrast, USA’s government and business sectors generally have not.  More than anything else, this means that American citizen watchdogs in the future cannot afford to again blindly trust their top leaders “to do what is right” for the nation.   They must remain engaged to ensure that government and business leaders are waging full-scope / full-scale counter-measures against the CCP and its allies.  So also, regarding the need to best the CCP by superior competitive innovations and daring.  This means that “informed citizens” must have their own battle focus informed by continually evolving strategic savvy.  This is a new standard for all Americans to remain vigilant and engaged in a very deadly 21^st Century.

Scope and Scale.   It is hard to keep an eye on government and business on a good day, because of the massive overload of information, propaganda, disinformation, subversion, and spin dominating the modern infosphere.  It will help for Americans to at least appreciate the scope and scale of key factors in the enduring US-China Super Power Competition.  This is the “new normal” for the 21^st Century.  Below is a starter list of Readiness Focal Points to monitor.  Sustained US progress in each of these areas is vital.   These should be monitored like the rise and fall of daily stock market performance as if our life depends on it.  Because it does. 

The Relational

1. National and International Laws and Treaties
2. Strategic Alliances
3. Strategic Allegiances
4. Traditional Alliances, Partnerships, and Teaming
5. Non-traditional Alliance, Partnerships, and Teaming
6. Surrogate Power Optimization

The Informational and Perceptional

1. Full exposure of the CCPs enduring agenda of world dominance
2. Isolation of the CCP for Crimes Against Humanity and Violations of the Rome Statute Leader Development for Modern Unrestricted Competition between US and China
3. Out-competing CCP in winning hearts and minds on democratic, free-market, human rights practices, and quality of life practices

The Strategic and Operational

1. Strategies that put the CCP on the defensive
2. Strategies that put CCP supporters on the defensive
3. Counter CCP’s manipulation of US Government law, organizations, politicians, business leaders and consumers
4. Counter CCP’s manipulation and control of key Leaders globally
5. Counter CCP’s privatization of security forces and their power projection
6. Cut CCP off from sources of expertise
7. Promote nationalization of CCP overseas assets acquired by coercion and manipulation
8. Full Spectrum No-Rules Unrestricted Competition
9. Full Spectrum Information Warfare
10. Control of Communications, Information, and Media
11. Control of Critical Mediums of Communications
12. Control of Strategic Key Terrain
13. Foment unrest, resistance, and revolution on mainland China and its near perimeter nations
14. Counter CCP-directed / enabled subversion, espionage, and irregular “unrestricted” warfare
15. Counter CCP-directed / enabled private military security organizations and proxies
16. Cash Flow Reduction to CCP to undercut its coercive power

The Functional and Structural Enablers

1. Superior economic alliances, capacities, products and services
2. Nuclear Power Modernization
3. Conventional Military Power Modernization
4. Intelligence supportive of integrated Irregular Warfare, Hybrid Warfare, and Unrestricted Competition
5. Space-Based Capacities
6. Artificial Intelligence and IT Dominance
7. 5G Market Dominance
8. Gas and Oil
9. Rare Earth Minerals
10. Other Strategic Minerals
11. Manufacturing
12. Critical Commodities
13. Diverse Monopolies
14. Currency Manipulation
15. Banking
16. Food Security

The Preventive and Protective

1. Counter intrusive, exploitive economic subversions of national sovereignty
2. Homeland resilience protection
3. Homeland local community capacity development and well being
4. Sea Control
5. Strategic Node Control
6. China Control of Key International Organizations
7. US Business Support of China
8. US Research and Development Support of China
9. US Investor Support of China
10. US Consumer Support of China
11. US Academia Support of China
12. Development of self-reliant / Made in USA US Defense Capacities
13. Immigration Controls / Access Denial
14. Environmental Destruction
15. Water Control
16. Off-Shore and Deep-Sea Fishing

The Educational

1. Real World experiential development of US Government leaders for 21^st Century Competition
2. Professional development of US Government agencies on “Modern Unrestricted Competition” encompassing all competitive forms from peace to war
3. Military and LEA professional development on Military-LEA-Economic-Information capacity integration

Quality Assurance and Control

1. Strategic Whole-of-Nation Change Management
2. Rule of Law
3. Integration of Whole of Nation Capacities
4. Integration of Whole of World Capacities

The Miscellaneous

1. Counter those who exploit US-CH competition 
2. Identify, index, and counter monied Gray Men, rogues, wild cards, traitors, parasites, subversives
3. Systemic Vulnerabilities (see next paragraph)

Facing and Fixing America’s Systemic Vulnerabilities.   For all the emphasis and energy that may be placed on USA competing better with China, one compelling mission-stopper endures as the key danger America faces on the road ahead:   USA may fail to take an objective look at itself, its past errant mentalities and methods, and its accumulation of many vulnerabilities.  Bad habits and flaws from the past endure as blind spots that USA generally ignores and neglects because of its near-omnipotent Super Power status. These are accumulated leaks below the waterline of a listing Ship of State that first and foremost must float.   The following information provides an 18-page starter menu of “What needs fixing”.  This is detailed because Americans omitting corrective action is exactly what the CCP hopes for.  China’s leadership will exploit this to maximum advantage.  https://thechinafactor.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Facing-and-Fixing-USAs-Systemic-Vulnerabilities-v1.0.pdf

Accountability.  Of critical importance is that American citizens’ demands for US leaders’ accountability in both public and private sectors should be mandated by US Law.   This means regular transparent accountability of these leaders’ statuses and progress in all the above-mentioned areas.  Without this constant forcing function, the human tendency is that these areas and their inter-relationships will not get managed in detail to an effective standard.  Vulnerability-minded / detail-minded CCP will surely take advantage of this neglect.   This is a certainty, because they are the proven grand masters of this art and science.

Comments. 

Confusion and Disunity.  Americans will face an increasing flood of information, disinformation, and manipulation by CCP’s information arm with its embedded allies, surrogates and proxies in super abundance.  This will make it correspondingly harder to separate fact from fabrication. An already paranoid CCP “found out” globally because of its manipulation of COVID-19 as a Weapon of Mass Disruption, has only increased its aggressions on all fronts.  Job One for the CCP now and always is” “Disunifying Americans internally”.  US Superpower devolution and demise follow by this.

Critical Mass.  Americans using the above information in this report as focal points for accountability by the US Government and the American Business Sector, is a grand task best enabled by trusted collaborative communities of interest.  Unity of purpose among collaborative groups of “angry Yanks” is China’s greatest fear:  Deadly Mass that confounds tyrants.  This is because this unity has a chance of overcoming the CCP’s expanding advantage in manipulating perceptions, processes and key leaders.  Only by uniting the diversities of like-minded in USA’s public, private and citizen watchdog sectors, are America’s solidarity, rebound, and advantage feasible and durable.

“Getting it”.  The Chinese Communist Party is daily achieving new levels of mastery in the full integration of (1)  Voodoo Economics, (2) Irregular Warfare, (3) Control of Foreign Decision Makers, (4) Natural Resource Control (5) Manufacturing Monopolization, (6) Advanced Information Warfare, (7) Artificial Intelligence and 5G Technology and Market Monopolization, (8) Currency Manipulation and Weaponization, (9) Control of International Institutions, and (10) Strategic Terrain Control.  Such disciplined dominance means the end of times for the freedom-seeking world.

Nothing that US Government and American Big Business can do will matter until and unless they and the rest of the country “get it”.  “Getting it” means:

• Assessing the full scope and scale of damage done by the CCP to America, Americans, American Allies, and, most significantly, those oppressed around the world who believe in the American Revolution, but who Americans have somehow rationalized to not champion. 
• Abandoning and then crushing all that we have allowed to weaken us as a nation, people, and protectors of human liberty.
• Isolating and eliminating status quo leadership, mentalities, policies, strategies, and practices that have so conspicuously and convincingly brought us low.
• Keeping the positive possibilities between globalization and national interests in continuous balance.

America otherwise faces not only the end of times for all we once were – Americans face the enduring impossibility of ever being all we can be.

Sincerely,

The China Factor Network