By Bradley A. Thayer

The Cold War with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is multifaceted and fought in all domains—economic, diplomatic, military, intelligence, technological, space—short of kinetic war.  It is important to consider the similarities between this Cold War and the one with the Soviet Union (1946-1991).  

The similarities are myriad but the most important is that Communism is the cause of both.  The motivation for aggression remains the same, the Communist ideology of the Soviet Union in the past and of the CCP today.  In essence, in the current Cold War with the CCP, the U.S. is confronting the last gasp of Soviet ideology.  To understand why, Americans grasp that Communism was a Western colonial import to China caused by the Bolshevik intent to spread the 1917 Revolution around the world through their direct efforts.  The Bolshevik war with Poland was defeated in 1920 on the outskirts of Warsaw was classic case of direct action to spread the revolution to Germany, which the Bolsheviks hoped would become a Communist supernova, spreading the revolution throughout the West.  

But they also worked through front organizations.  The Communist International (or Comintern, which was formed in March 1919 to spread the world Communist revolution and was terminated in 1943 to please the Allies in World War II but relaunch in 1947 as the Information Bureau of Communist and Workers’ Parties, or Cominform), was the most important.  Comintern agents worked with the CCP from the 1920s until the CCP came to power in 1949.  Although Mao was dominant in the CCP by end of World War II, Stalin’s shadow loomed large over Mao, and the Soviet dictator guided the CCP’s big decisions.  

It is a fundamental truth that the CCP is the product of Soviet imperialism through the Comintern.  The legacy of the Soviet Communist Party remains in the CCP.  It is a profoundly incongruous fact is that the product of Soviet imperialism, the CCP, rules the people of China, the largest group of which is the Han at about 92% of the population.  Given their august civilization, the Han naturally possess a profound sense of pride in their civilization and its accomplishments.  The Chinese perceive themselves to occupy a unique place in the world that has excelled in every aspect, including literature, philosophy, art, religion, and technology.  Notable as well is the sheer size of the population which is almost an order of magnitude more than the Russian population of Soviet Union during the Cold War.  The Han have their own ideas about how to govern China past on their august history.  Being ruled by a Soviet "knock off” is not a part of the plan.  Nor should it be.

This introduces a tremendous vulnerability for the CCP, as their ideology is anchored and remains dependent upon a Western ideology, Marxism-Leninism, which means that their worldview attempts to impose a Western ideology upon Han civilization.  A dangerous civilizational incoherence and profound tension between the CCP and the Han is the result.

The result is that the CCP has to oppress their people.  They have done so since they came to power in 1949 and will continue to do so as long as they remain in power.  

Every political party, and every state, defines the key questions of "who are we.”   The CCP’s answer to this fundamental question is embarrassing.  The CCP’s founding fathers are Marx and Engels, as interpreted, influenced, and forged by Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin, through the idiom of Maoism and now "Xi Jinping Thought.”  Thus, Germans, Russians, and Georgians are the founding fathers and guiding influences of the CCP.  They are the sine qua non of the CCP.  

In China today, the CCP faces the paradox of laboring consistently to hijack Han civilization to provide its legitimacy, popular support, and enlist the Han sense of superiority over other civilizations.  But as it does so, the CCP reveals its illegitimacy to rule China and that it fetters Han civilization with a Western ideology and worldview.  That is one of the CCP’s Achilles’ heels and must be at the centerpiece of Han efforts to overthrow the CCP, and joined by people of good will around the world.

From Stalin to Mao to Pol Pot, Communism has been the cause of about 100 million deaths around the world, totalitarian governments, gross human rights abuses, famine, deportations, executions, and hyper-aggression, including two Cold Wars and, potentially, a hot World War III.   Consigning the CCP to the ash heap of history begins by recognizing it is a colonial government, and no more legitimate to rule the Chinese people than you or I am.  Bradley A. Thayer is a Contributing Columnist for Warroom and is @bradleythayer on Gettr and Truth, and @bradthayer at X.  He is the coauthor with James E. Fanell of Embracing Communist China:  America’s Greatest Strategic Failure