Communism, no matter what anyone says, is not dead. It is the driving force of the most populous nation on the planet – Red China. The communist leaders of China hold an iron grip on the lives of more than a billion forcibly subservient people. China, despite its economic reforms of the last 20 years, is anything but a free, democratic, society. China is an authoritarian police state in which a paranoid Government elite holds all the cards. In December of 1998, China’s leader, Jiang Zemin vowed that China would never adopt a Western style democratic system. He told an assembly of Communist party elite that the present system "must not be shaken, weakened or discarded…the Western mode of political systems must never be copied."

The reason I say this is because our leaders seem to forget this fundamental fact in dealing with the leaders of China. Whether out naïveté, fear, or – perish the thought --treasonous malice, they have repeatedly "given away the store" to China. For decades, America has given strategic ground to China, apparently not recognizing that the red dragon is more than willing to press its advantage anywhere it can. It is almost as though someone sat down and thought out just which moves would give China the greatest strategic advantages over the United States, and then implemented them one by one.

Around the time of the Golden Age of Pericles in Athens (500 BC), a man named Sun Tzu was writing in faraway China the now classic Art of War. Those who have studied the literature of war making have recognized it as one of the earliest and most profound treatises on how to defeat an enemy. You can bet that the military leaders of China are intimately familiar with it.

Wrote Sun Tzu, "Generally in war the best policy is to take a state intact; to ruin it is inferior to this." He also said, "For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill" (The Art of War, p. 77).

China seeks to become the dominant power in the Pacific, perhaps the world. It would prefer to do so via a campaign of threat, intimidation, blackmail, and subterfuge. Said Sun Tzu, "Thus, those skilled in war subdue the enemy’s army without battle. They capture his cities without assaulting them and overthrow his state without protracted operations" (ibid. p. 79).

Sun Tzu believed in waiting for the enemy’s "moment of vulnerability." He said, "Now an army must be likened to water, for just as flowing water avoids the heights and hastens to the lowlands, so an army avoids strength and strikes weakness" (ibid. p. 101).

This great military thinker also believed that deception and espionage were essential components in successful conquests. "Now war is based on deception. Move when it is advantageous and create changes in the situation by dispersal and concentration of forces" (p. 106).

The use of secret agents to undermine the enemy was essential to Sun Tzu’s strategy. He believed there were five kinds of secret agents: native, inside, doubled, expendable and living. Let’s look at each type in order.

A "native" agent is one of the enemy nation’s own country people – common folk who can be used to provide information.

An "inside" agent is an enemy official who has been subverted or corrupted -- that is, a member of the government.

"Doubled" agents are double agents – they spy for both sides.

"Expendable" agents are agents sent to the enemy with false or misleading information.

"Living" agents are those who return with information.

Working together, these five types of agents are viewed as a "Divine Skein" or the "treasure of the sovereign" (p. 145). They are handsomely rewarded. Wrote Sun Tzu, "It is essential to seek out enemy agents who have come to conduct espionage against you and bribe them to serve you. Give them instructions and care for them. Thus doubled agents are recruited and used. It is by means of the doubled agent that native and inside agents can be recruited and employed" (p. 148).

China’s economic reforms are intended to provide that communist nation with the economic base to become a superpower. China’s leaders wish to compete with the United States, and ultimately eclipse her as a world power. They will use any means at their disposal to achieve this. China seeks to fill every power vacuum foolishly left by the Americans anywhere in the world. It seeks to obtain and hold strategic positions wherever possible. It works hard to obtain all of the strategic information it can as rapidly as possible. It attempts to undermine and compromise government officials at all levels – from the Presidency on down. It is especially interested in acquiring the most advanced computer and military technology from the United States.

Control of Choke Points
There are four places in the world’s oceans where a small area can be used to block trade and military shipping for an entire continent. They are the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal, the Straits of Gibralter, and the Spratly Islands. China has now established itself in two of them: the Panama Canal, and the Spratlys. In the past year, the Clinton Administration allowed China to seize some of the Spratlys, where it is now building naval installations.

On December 31 of this year, the Panama Canal reverts to Panamanian control. Panama has already signed a 50-year contract giving a Communist Chinese company – Hutchison Whampoa -- control the two ports at either end of the canal. The company will also be able to control access to the canal by ships from any nation.

Once established in Panama, China will be able to lob missiles at major American cities from a distance of only 300 miles. Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, a two-term Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has warned of the possibility of a "nuclear Pearl Harbor."

China will also be able to control the passage of American warships from Atlantic to Pacific and back again. If American warships cannot use the canal, they will have to sail an additional 8000 miles around the horn of South America – a journey of two weeks. In modern warfare, a journey of two weeks can mean the difference between defeat and victory.

The Clinton Administration, quick to send troops to places not vital to American interests – like Kosovo, Haiti, and Timor – has enigmatically forbidden the deployment of American forces to defend our interests in the Panama Canal. The Canal was built and maintained with billions in American money. More than 13,000 vessels move through the canal every year. Each month, more than 1000 of those ships bring oil and food to Americans.

In 1996, Chinese officials told the New York Times that China was prepared to use nuclear weapons against US cities, including Los Angeles, if the United States attempted to stop the military takeover of Taiwan by main land China. More recently, China said it would use nuclear bombs against American aircraft carriers of they interfered with Chinese plans to invade Taiwan. Once China is ensconced in the Panama Canal zone, you can bet the installation of medium range nuclear missiles won’t be far behind.

In the Spratlys, not only is China building naval installations, it seeks to gain access to, and control, the large undersea oil reserves said to be there. Representative Dana Rohrabacker, after visiting the islands earlier this year, said of the Mischief Reef area of the Spratlys, "It strategically borders the Palawan Passage which leads directly to the Taiwan Strait and links the passage of oil and commodity transport ships from the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean to Japan and Korea."

At immediate risk from the Chinese presence in the Spratlys is the Philippines. Though the islands are 800 miles from China, and less than 200 from the Philippines, their ownership is disputed among several nations. Included in the claimants are: China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei. China is the big dog on the block, and is unlikely to be challenged by any of the rival nations.

China War Games
In December of 1998, China conducted a military exercise that included simulated mobile missile firings at Taiwan, and, for the first time, a mock attack on US troops in the region. Americans in South Korea, Japan and Okinawa were all targeted.

On December 25 of this year, the first of two nuclear-capable warships is scheduled to be commissioned under the battle flag of the People’s Republic of China. These are Russian Sovremenny class destroyers. These ships have a simple mission: strike or die. They have the capability for eight nuclear-tipped SS-N-22 Sunburn anti-ship missiles, four 130 mm. guns, and nuclear-armed wake-homing torpedoes. In the naval arsenal of the former Soviet Union, these ships were designed to take out US aircraft carriers and Aegis-class cruisers. The SS-N-22 missile skims along the surface of the water and, just before impact, lifts upward and heads straight down into the target’s deck. A high-explosive version of the missile can sink either type of target.

Several years ago, two Chinese military officers authored a book called Unrestricted War. It outlined how a weaker power, China, could effectively do battle with a more powerful enemy, the US, and win. It was a best-seller in China. The book included proposals for terrorism, drug trafficking, environmental degradation, and computer virus propagation. In all, the book outlined 24 different types of war and showed how various methods could be combined for maximum effectiveness. For example, a triple whammy including terrorism coupled with a media and financial war could be highly effective. Sun Tzu’s principles are all included in the book, along with modern military technology and economic globalization. The bottom line: win any way you can. There are no rules.

Cyber War
China is taking the art of cyber war seriously. In October of 1999, reports surfaced that China wants to fight a "dirty war" against the West. The centerpiece of this proposal is cyber war – war against America’s reliance on high-tech weaponry. As with all computerized systems, America’s military is vulnerable to hack-attack, logic bombs, e-mail spamming, and viruses.

Some military leaders in China are even proposing the creation of a new military arm to join the army, navy and air force – the cyber force. In November, the Chinese army’s official newspaper, Liberation Army Daily, said, "It is essential to have an all-conquering offensive technology and to develop software and technology for Net offensives so as to be able to launch attacks and countermeasures on the Net, including information-paralyzing software, information-blocking software, and information-deception software." The title of the article alone was telling: "Bringing Internet Warfare Into the Military System Is of Equal Significance with Land, Sea, and Air Power." The goal of the new cyber strategy is to drop "electronic bombs which saturate the enemy’s cyberspace" and "to develop masquerade technology to steal the Internet command power."

Continued the article, "Modern high-tech warfare cannot win without the Net, nor can it be won just on the Net. In the future there must be a coordinated land, sea, air, space, electronic and Net warfare." Vice Adm. Thomas Wilson, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is taking this threat seriously. He pointed out that the United States and the Pentagon are very "information dependent." He said that information dominance will be increasingly important in future warfare.

Sun Tzu would be proud. All of his strategies are in place. The "enemy" – the United States – is behaving like a gullible dupe, playing into the hands of its potential conqueror. In recent years we have transferred vital missile technology to China. We have sought to appease the dragon, thus demonstrating weakness. We have welcomed Chinese spies and easily given up computer secrets from Silicon Valley and various strategically vital military and nuclear installations. Some of our highest leaders have allowed themselves to be compromised with illegal campaign funds and other perks. Access to the highest government and military circles has been gained by agents unfriendly to this country. We have given up strategic areas to the Chinese without a peep. We almost gave them a beachhead in Long Beach, California. Had it not been for a public hue and cry, the Chinese would be firmly ensconced there today.

Today, comfortable in the impression that it is the "world’s only remaining Superpower," the United States has grown complacent. The Clinton Administration has weakened the US military perhaps irreversibly. The number of men under arms is at its lowest point since the close of WW II. Wrote Sun Tzu, "Generally, he who occupies the field of battle first and awaits his enemy is at ease…when the enemy is at ease, be able to weary him…appear at places to which he must hasten; move swiftly where he does not expect you…To be certain to take what you attack is to attack a place the enemy does not protect…He whose advance is irresistible plunges into his enemy’s weak positions" (ibid. pp. 96-97).

Whether it’s the Spratlys, the Panama Canal, or Long Beach harbor, the Chinese continue to fill the vacuums left by an increasingly lethargic US. America today is living in a fool’s paradise, apparently unconcerned that it is confronted with real danger on every side. Sooner or later, China will confront the United States over Taiwan, or it will attempt to close the Panama Canal. If in either case the US shows weakness, China will gain the upper hand from that point forward. It will surely test US resolve and strength over both of these flash points.

Ultimately, America must come once again to hope and trust in God. It is God who is "sovereign over the kingdoms of men and [He] sets over them anyone he wishes" (Daniel 5:21). It was God who gave us this land, and who allowed us to become the great nation that we have become. The founders of the United States believed in God, and they were convinced that all of the rights and freedoms we have were God-given. Today’s leaders have moved a long way from the views of the Founders. Today’s Supreme Courts have interpreted the Constitution the Founders created into a caricature of its original intent. The Gang of 535 in Washington is asleep at the switch – unable to cope with the enormity of America’s challenges in a world full of malevolent thugs. It is up to the Church to pray for revival, and to become the patriotic core of a nation that is falling apart from Washington on out.

China is only one of America’s potential enemies. Should China align herself with the growing number of rogue nations that seek to bring America down, this country will face the greatest challenge to its existence since 1776. This is no time to weaken America’s military. It is no time to appease tyrants and dictators while failing to support democracies. It is no time to give away vital technology. The strategy of dismantling America’s military so that it is less threatening to potential enemies is foolish beyond description. The world is a dangerous place. It is time, more than ever, to hide in the skirts of the living God and invite Him to become our Rock, our Fortress. It is also time to strengthen America’s vigilance and her defenses in every area.