Washington is abuzz with the summit between President Trump and Chairman Xi, and not just because the traffic is worse than normal. After all, even at a time when bipartisan consensus is an increasingly fading phenomenon, concern over China’s military and economic threat appears to be holding across the aisle. From calls to release innocent Americans like Youlin Chen and Min Zin, to pressing China to cease its imports of Iranian crude, to demanding China step up its enforcement of bans on fentanyl precursor exports to Mexico, there are numerous topics that policymakers hope will find their way onto the summit’s agenda. But as we rightly call for these changes, we must also be mindful of the reality of what is at stake in our competition against China. It is not merely about defending our security and that of our citizens: As we argue in our latest video, it is about defending Western Civilization. 

The Chinese Communist Party seeks to subvert and ultimately destroy Western Civilization. It does this in two ways. First, China seeks to erode American national sovereignty and foster dependence on China, therefore enabling adversarial interests to guide the choices that we as a nation make rather than our own. All aspects of China’s malign influence campaign—the deliberate anti-American propaganda that it disseminates through TikTok, the intentional incentivizing of the sale of fentanyl precursors to Mexico that ravage American communities, the almost monopolistic acquisition of key critical minerals and pharmaceutical supply chains—are constructed as a means to force the United States to be dependent on the Chinese Communist Party, similar to how it coerces countries that have signed on to the Belt and Road Initiative. Chairman Xi understands that sovereignty—that key principle in American political thought—is an impossibility if you are economically or militarily dependent on others, especially an adversary. And thus, this is precisely what he hopes to do with America.

Second, beyond our political sovereignty, Xi Jinping targets our individual sovereignty. That is to say, the CCP seeks to undercut that foundational concept of Western Civilization that we are all created in the image of God, and therefore have certain inalienable rights that no government has the authority to grant or revoke. This very basic concept of man’s inherent freedom and dignity is at direct odds with Chairman Xi’s communist worldview. Rather than us all being equally free under God, those under Xi’s rule are equally subservient under Xi. This is why Xi has imprisoned people—including Americans—simply for freely speaking, writing, and practicing religion. Each of these concepts challenges his power, just as they challenged King George III’s power in the Revolutionary Era. Xi Jinping’s fear is another reason why China has weaponized the ideological portion of our civilizational conflict against us, especially on apps like TikTok. China is infecting our citizens with propaganda to influence Americans to question a system grounded in the principles of liberty and human dignity, while denying those same principles to its own citizens. China is testing whether our strengths, that is our openness and freedom, can also be exploited for our downfall—both in degrading our political sovereignty and our faith Western ideals. 

We, of course, can and should resist China’s efforts. Being a truly free nation means American citizens can decide our own future free from Chinese military, economic, or ideological coercion. It also means the ability to work alongside allies and partners to preserve the values of Western civilization from China’s vision of global subjugation and repression. And it means continuing to fight, unapologetically, for those freedoms that have made us the most successful nation in the modern world.