November 2, 2024

The Truth About Sullivan’s Trip to China: Engagement Is the Fentanyl of the Elites

The sad reality is that Sullivan’s trip, his meeting with CCP leaders, and these blind agreements to engagement are having a cumulative and deleterious impact on our national security.

In late August, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan traveled to the People’s Republic of China for three days of meetings that included Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping, Director of the CCP’s Central Committee Foreign Affairs Commission Wang Yi, and Vice Chairman of the CCP’s Central Military Commission (CMC) General Zhang Youxia. While Xi and Wang hold state titles, President and Foreign Minister, respectively, the significance of this visit is that the Biden-Harris administration dispatched Sullivan to meet with the top leadership of the CCP, a party and ideology that are dedicated to the defeat and destruction of America.

So why did Sullivan make such a trip with less than six months to go in the Biden administration? There are two main reasons: one, Sullivan was seeking to enhance his political and career resume; and second, he was there to ensure that the policy of “neo-engagement” and surrender to the CCP was solidified before Americans go to the polls on November 5.

This visit was publicized, in both PRC and U.S. media, as the “first” visit by a U.S. National Security Advisor to the PRC since former NSA Susan Rice visited during the last days of the Obama Administration in 2016. Defining this visit as a “first” fits a well-established pattern for this administration that openly brags that they place more emphasis on “firsts” and breaking glass ceilings than they do on meritocracy, competency, or the national security of the United States and the security of the American people. The goal of imbuing a person with the status of a “first” is to enhance the person’s standing in the hierarchy of elitism that dominates this administration and their political ideology.

As such, in the week before Sullivan’s visit, there were a series of carefully crafted press reports about how Sullivan may be a candidate for secretary of state in a future Kamala Harris administration. This places Sullivan’s trip into the category of “due diligence” to establish his gravitas in meeting with these leaders of the PRC. For many years now, Joe Biden boasted about “traveling 17,000 miles” with Xi, so you can expect Jake Sullivan to parlay this late-term meeting to elevate his special place in the ranking of “China Hands”—the expert class that has unfortunately sold out our national security in the vain belief in engagement at all costs.

Sullivan is already using this trip to further burnish his image as a potential future secretary of state. At the conclusion of his trip, during a press conference in Beijing on August 29, Sullivan made the following comment: “Beginning in May of last year, that diplomacy [“responsible management through diplomacy”] has been an all-hands-on-deck effort across the U.S. government and the Cabinet, which has included four meetings between myself and Director Wang Yi.” This statement coincides with an article from the Financial Times two days before Sullivan’s arrival in Beijing entitled “The inside story of the secret backchannel between the US and China,” which was clearly leaked from Sullivan and his team. The self-promoting article boasted of a “cloak and dagger,” James Bond-like series of meetings between Sullivan and his CCP handler, Wang Yi, all coming in the aftermath of the PRC’s intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (aka “spy”) balloon that had flown over America in early 2023.

These series of clandestine talks from Vienna, Malta, Thailand, and now Beijing were described in glowing terms and even labeled as the “strategic channel”—again all designed to promote Jake Sullivan’s stature as the new Henry Kissinger, the man responsible for establishing and sustaining America’s disastrous 50-year policy of Engagement with the PRC.

If this were all there was to the story, then there would not be much else to say except for “This is how the swamp in Washington, DC, works.” But there is a far graver and more pernicious aspect of Jake Sullivan’s trip to Beijing: in essence, he surrendered U.S. national sovereignty to the direction of the CCP.

The evidence is provided by the White House itself. In the August 28 official White House “Readout of National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s Meeting with Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission Zhang Youxia of the People’s Republic of China,” it states, “as directed by President Biden and President Xi at the November 2023 Woodside Summit.” No U.S. national security advisor to a U.S. President should ever take “direction” from a foreign leader, let alone the leader of the CCP, which has been at war with the U.S. since it came to power in 1949 and most recently declared a People’s War against America in 2019.

Another example from the White House readout states, “Mr. Sullivan and Vice Chairman Zhang recognized the progress in sustained, regular military-military communications over the past ten months and planned to hold a theater commander telephone call in the near future.”

With respect to the emphasis on the past ten months of mil-to-mil engagement, there was no reference made to what the PLA has done over those ten months. The statement falsely implies that while differences may still exist, mil-to-mil engagement has benefited the U.S.

In fact, mil-to-mil has hurt the U.S. historically and continues to do so. The PRC continues to aggress against U.S. national security interests and that pace is quickening. The situation in the South China Sea near Scarborough or Sabina Shoal is dramatically worsening. The PLA is increasing pressure on Taiwan through its operations. PLAAF bombers have flown into the Alaskan ADIZ for the first time. This month, the PLAAF violated Japanese territorial waters for the first time ever. Moreover, the PLAN and Russian Navy sailed into the Gulf of Alaska. Additionally, it has been confirmed that the PLA is supplying Russia with military weapons to aid Moscow in its war against Kyiv.

By any objective metric, the resumption of mil-to-mil engagement has not decreased the tensions in the Indo-Pacific region and thus has decreased America’s national security.

Another area of national surrender emanating from Sullivan’s trip to Beijing was the extension of mil-to-mil engagement with the agreement that so-called theater commanders would conduct a call with their counterparts. While Admiral Paparo is the commander of the Indo-Pacific command, he will only be talking with the PRC’s Southern Theater commander, not the commander of the Eastern Theater command, which will be the responsible PLA commander in any Taiwan invasion scenario.

Given the record, the Biden administration must explain how this theater commander call will aid U.S. national security. Such a call comes at a considerable cost. It involves considerable work for the headquarters staff of Indo-Pacific Command and is certain to impact other theater-level work Paparo’s staff must do. Moreover, the call will invariably create a faction within Paparo’s staff that will be de facto “pro-engagement” proponents, just like what happened when the U.S. Pacific Fleet hosted the PLA Navy at the Rim-of-the-Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise during the Obama administration. It will also impact the service component level at U.S. Pacific Fleet, Pacific Air Forces, Army Pacific, and Marine Forces Pacific in the same manner.

Finally, as it relates to the surrender of our national sovereignty to Beijing, it is worth noting how Sullivan characterized the PRC’s support to Russia regarding the war in Ukraine. The Biden-Harris regime has been crystal clear that because of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. would use tariffs and sanctions to shackle the Russian economy. Yet when it comes to holding the PRC to the same standards as Russia, the Biden-Harris regime has found a loophole colossal enough for Beijing to sail an aircraft carrier through. As such, it was no surprise to hear Sullivan state three times that the Biden-Harris regime remains “deeply concerned about China’s support for Russia’s defense industrial base.” By not openly admitting that the PRC is providing weapons and arms to Russia, they have an excuse for not holding the CCP to the same standards as they are Vladimir Putin—prima facie evidence of a surrender to Beijing out of fear.

The sad reality is that Sullivan’s trip, his meeting with CCP leaders, and these blind agreements to engagement are having a cumulative and deleterious impact on our national security.

The message from Sullivan’s trip to Beijing is clear—American elites are afraid of the PRC and of losing “the relationship.” For the Engagers, the Communist China-U.S. relationship is the most important thing.

It is time to recognize a fundamental truth: engagement with Communist China is the fentanyl of the American elite. Like an opioid addiction, it must be kept going. Unlike an opioid addiction, the engager benefits and, indeed, prospers as so many of the elite have from engagement with Communist China. The American people and American national security bear the great costs. Mil-to-mil engagement is just another form of the drug.

The Chinese Communist Party is the eager supplier. The CCP is always willing to provide more of the narcotic to weaken America, sap its strength, cloud its ability to think strategically, and prevent it from recognizing the fatal danger the CCP poses to the American people and the accurate understanding of the source of the evil—the CCP itself.

If Harris and Walz are elected, engagement will be broadened and deepened as never before. Should the American people reject such a policy outlook come Election Day 2024, the fight will not be over. The Trump administration will have to go at this issue hammer and tongs as the American elite will fight going to detox and the other therapies that are necessary to cure them of their addiction.

We have argued in our book that embracing Communist China was America’s greatest strategic failure. Advocates of the continuation of engagement are working against U.S. national security interests and are furthering policies that sustain the CCP’s tyranny. It is long past time to end the addiction. Only Trump can send the federal government, Wall Street, investors, the media, think tank denizens, and Silicon Valley to treatment. Only a Trump administration can break the addiction to engagement and restore the health of the American elite and the American people.

This piece first appeared in American Greatness, and is republished with the authors’ permission.

Author profile

James E. Fanell

James Fanell is a retired captain in the U.S. Navy, former director of intelligence and information operations for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, and coauthor of Embracing Communist China: America’s Greatest Strategic Failure.

Author profile

Bradley Thayer

Bradley A. Thayer is a Founding Member of the Committee on Present Danger China and the coauthor with James E. Fanell of Embracing Communist China: America’s Greatest Strategic Failure.