Is communist China the new Third Reich?
Being a self-confessed history buff, I admit that I have often found myself wondering, “What must it have been like to live through some past era?”
Usually, these musings are motivated by curiosity about, for instance, “how could America have been so blind about the monstrous evil that was metastasizing in Hitler’s Third Reich?”
How could so many American corporations have continued to do business with the Nazis? How could America have failed to recognize the systemic squelching of all human rights and the brutal anti-Semitism directed toward the Jewish population?
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My curiosity about this particular historical phenomenon began when I was assigned to read both Mein Kampf (1925) and The Communist Manifesto (1848) in an accelerated honors Civics class in my public high school. As I was reading Hitler’s Mein Kampf, I distinctly remember going out to the kitchen and asking my mother incredulously, “Didn’t anybody read this book before the war? The horrible things Hitler wanted to do are all right here in the book.”
My mother said, “Well, people just thought he was crazy.” He may have been insane, but he did gain control of one of the most powerful countries in the world (and it wasn’t even his own country, since he was Austrian by birth).
Frankly, up until now, I was incredulous as to how America could have been so blasé or ignorant about the evils of the Nazis that they would send their athletes to the obviously propagandized 1936 Berlin Olympic Games where our own American Olympic Committee agreed to discriminate against our Jewish athletes.
Frankly, it bewildered me, until now. As I have watched the widespread collaboration of American corporations with the Chinese Communist (CCP) regime in China, I now see how it could have happened, because it is happening again.
The closest analogy to the Nazi regime in Germany from 1933 to 1945 that the world has seen since is the current Chinese Communist (CCP) government in China.
They are practicing full-fledged genocide against the Uyghur Muslims, including concentration camps and slave labor. In fact, we know more about the genocide of the Uyghurs at this point than we did about the Holocaust until midway through the Second World War.
The CCP regime is imposed on a country that is 92% ethnically Han Chinese, and they reportedly have at least as much confidence in their ethnic superiority as the Germans assumed for themselves in the 1930s and 1940s.
The Gestapo could only dream of having the amount of social and thought control the CCP is exercising over its population through the latest in technology (much of it either stolen from or supplied by, American technology companies).
Many Americans have been shocked at the abject “kowtowing” of so many segments of American business, which routinely passively surrender to the CCP's demands which violate basic human rights and American values.
For example, Apple has self-censored and removed a popular Bible app as well as a Quran app at the direct insistence of the CCP.
China has an estimated Christian population of approximately 97 million people, the majority of whom worship in “unregistered” churches. Reports continue to surface that the CCP is aggressively pursuing “Sinicization,” an official state campaign to “Chinasize” religious groups within the country. For example, the CCP’s Administration of Religious Affairs has “ordered Christians to study President Xi’s book and memorize his speeches.”
It is reported that the Chinese CCP has an official policy of what they call “decapitation.” In this strategy, the CCP consciously seeks to co-opt a country’s elites, entangling them in lucrative business deals which then keeps them from criticizing the CCP. When one looks at the extensive business ventures of American political families with the Chinese (the Bidens, the Kerrys, the Pelosis, the Boxers, the Feinsteins, the McConnells, etc.), it is not difficult to conclude that they have attempted to apply this strategy to the U.S., and have done so with considerable success.
Perhaps no segment of American business has been more spineless and abjectly servile in acquiescing to the CCP’s demands than the American Entertainment industry. At CCP demand, they have self-censored themselves on numerous occasions. For example, when the remake of Red Dawn was undertaken, the North Koreans were substituted for the Chinese at CCP demand. Paradoxically, currently, the most popular movie in China depicts the Chinese military routing U.S. forces. And, if anyone speaks up for the Dalai Lama and the Tibetans, they are reportedly blacklisted by the demand of the CCP.
In the sports world, the one bright sport of moral courage in standing up to the bullies of Beijing, the Women’s Tennis Federation (WTA), has stated that it will halt all of its tournaments in China until it is satisfied that Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai is safe. Ms. Shuai had made an accusation of sexual assault against a senior government official and was promptly “disappeared.”
Even though this decision could cost women’s tennis millions and millions of dollars, the WTA’s chief executive Steve Simon declared they will boycott China until they know Ms. Shuai is safe.
In stern but fair language, Mr. Simon stated: “Chinese officials have been provided the opportunity to cease this censorship, verifiably prove that Peng is free and able to speak without interference or intimidation, and investigate the allegations of sexual assault in a full, fair and transparent manner. … Unfortunately, the leadership in China has not addressed this very serious issue in any credible way.”
We should all be grateful for this sterling example of moral leadership provided by Mr. Simon and the WTA. The contrast with the graveling response of the International Olympic Committee is both revelatory and instructive.
And yes, I believe we should lead an international boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing and host alternative international games in a country that respects human rights. Do not give President Xi and the CCP their Olympic “Berlin Moment.” The CCP is not part of the civilized family of nations and it should be treated as the pariah that it is.
In the realm of athletics, no segment of our society has been more scandalously servile in its interactions with the CCP than the National Basketball Association. The CCP has been very successful in intimidating and silencing any NBA criticism of their frightfully repressive regime and their oppression of the Tibetans, the Uyghurs, and the people of Hong Kong.
Enes Kanter, an immigrant from Turkey, is a 13-year veteran center for the Boston Celtics and a brand new American citizen. In honor of the event, he officially changed his name to Enes Kanter Freedom. Like many immigrants to our country, he truly appreciates the freedoms we enjoy as Americans and too often take for granted.
He has used his platform as a professional athlete to denounce political repression in his native Turkey and he has had the courage to wear shoes in NBA games that declare “Free Tibet,” “Modern Day Slavery,” and “No More Excuses” despite the fact that NBA officials “tried to force him to remove his ‘Free Tibet’ shoes before a recent game at Madison Square Garden.”
I thank God for new Americans like Mr. Freedom. All of us as Americans should draw inspiration from new citizens like him to remind us of what a wonderful heritage is our birthright.
We need to draw on that heritage and birthright to denounce the dehumanizing CCP and its desire for world dominance which also mimics Nazi Germany.
We stood astride the Nazi’s path, foiling their dreams of world domination. May we be used again to thwart the CCP’s plan for world domination and the subsequent trampling of human rights on a global scale.
The stakes are enormous. A world dominated by the CCP would be a world where human freedom and human rights would be trampled in favor of Chinese hegemony and totalitarian state power. Every freedom-loving human being of whatever nationality or ethnicity has a tremendous state in thwarting the CCP’s dark vision for humanity’s future.
May God give every freedom-loving human being the wisdom to see the looming danger and to rise up to meet it before it is too late. The Third Reich is back, masquerading as the CCP.
Dr. Richard Land, BA (Princeton, magna cum laude); D.Phil. (Oxford); Th.M (New Orleans Seminary). Dr. Land served as President of Southern Evangelical Seminary from July 2013 until July 2021. Upon his retirement, he was honored as President Emeritus and he continues to serve as an Adjunct Professor of Theology & Ethics. Dr. Land previously served as President of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (1988-2013) where he was also honored as President Emeritus upon his retirement. Dr. Land has also served as an Executive Editor and columnist for The Christian Post since 2011.
Dr. Land explores many timely and critical topics in his daily radio feature, “Bringing Every Thought Captive,” and in his weekly column for CP.
