In the past two weeks, two US institutions have highlighted Communist Party of China (CPC) infringements on US interests and US needs to combat those intrusions.

On 19 September 2024 the United States House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (House Committee) held a hearing to address the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) use or abuse of US laws to oppress its critics and advance its own power (How the CCP Uses the Law to Silence Critics and Enforce its Rule | Select Committee on the CCP (house.gov)).  About a day later, the US Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) called for the United States to use “every lever of statecraft, not just the military lever.” (‘Every lever of statecraft’ needed to overcome Pacific threats, commander says – Defense One)

As American awareness and congressional understanding grows, so does my optimism that we will take well-informed and necessary actions to attenuate CPC capabilities to export fear, injustice and oppression around the world.  People living in the People’s Republic of China feel these characteristics of CPC rule most often and most acutely.  US long term interests depend on eroding the CPC’s abilities to extend these characteristics beyond China, Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang.

Still, the House Committee and INDOPACOM face challenges from our own processes.  Large scale systems, whether bureaucratic or corporate look familiar to and attract each other.  To touch on a few:

• Despite small business programs that intend to benefit small and medium size commercial entities, the US government still makes it cost prohibitive for small and medium sized business to support many US government objectives.
• The process for producing and receiving classified information taxes small companies’ time so much that they often cannot afford to wait for the process to deliver clearances necessary to allow small businesses to contribute to nationally important objectives.
• US government representatives often assume their patriotism is superior to individuals working in commercial spheres.  This attitude hampers their appreciation for the resources for-profit enterprises generate for government use.  Without a thriving private sector, no country can sustain the job creation and technological innovation required to win geopolitical competitions.
• Large scale systems, bring efficiencies of operations; that’s good.  Bureaucracies, whether in big government or big business, look alike and attract each other as familiar in many ways.  They also dull large outfits awareness of where the Communist Party is waging war – on innovative companies.  As said before, the Communist Party has turned US balance sheets into battle space.

The US government needs to learn to protect and how to protect especially smaller US companies from predatory belligerence from CPC-controlled agents.  Adm. Samuel Paparo recognizes the need for “every lever of statecraft, not just the military lever.,”