[The Federalist] Just as trade negotiations between China and the United States may be reaching their crescendo, an outspoken ex-conservative has made an assertion about the People’s Republic of China (PRC) likely to warm the hearts of the leaders of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).Writing in the Washington Post on his desire for an "unapologetic atheist" to someday ascend to the White House, Max Boot says:
There are too many examples of evil committed in the name of God to assume that people act morally because they are afraid of divine punishment. More likely, people are social animals who develop moral codes so they can live at peace with their neighbors. That’s why almost all societies, whether religious or not, have similar taboos against murder, robbery, rape and other sins.Most of China’s 1.4 billion people have no religious affiliation, and fewer than 7 percent are monotheists. Is there any reason to believe that China is a less moral place than the United States, where 70.6 percent profess to be Christians? [Emphasis mine]
Boot’s apparent attempt to draw moral equivalence between China and the United States would be news to the 1.4 billion Chinese citizens living in the world’s leading surveillance state‐to the extent they are able to read his article behind the Great Firewall, and not one of the 1 to 2 million Uighurs currently imprisoned in "re-education camps" or countless others held captive for challenging the Party line.
It would be news to members of the dissenting Chinese diaspora being tracked down and targeted by the Communist regime at every corner of the Earth. And it would be news to those peoples whose sovereignty is threatened by the CCP and the People’s Liberation Army that serves it‐"it" being the Party, not the country.
Beyond the Chinese people and those in China’s direct orbit, Boot’s claim would also be news to the more than 20 million U.S. federal government employees or applicants, and their families, friends, and colleagues, who had their most sensitive information stolen by China in the 2014 Office of Personnel Management hack. It would be news to the entrepreneurs who have seen hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of intellectual property and technology pilfered by the Chinese government. And it would be news to those nations who are being crushed under the weight of Chinese debt if not foreclosed upon under the PRC’s loan-to-own Belt and Road strategy.
"Stolen by China" - did you read that, (He)erb?