Espionage and Treason

Lenin once boasted that Western capitalists were so greedy, they would sell Russia the rope she would use to hang them with. Well, little has changed in 80 years—only now it is China that threatens us, and we're selling them products far more lethal than rope. The just-released Cox Committee Report has confirmed that the Chinese have been engaged in a systematic campaign of espionage for many years, one that has enabled them to steal America's most sensitive nuclear secrets. The people responsible include government officials, who looked the other way, and aerospace companies like Loral and Hughes, which knowingly transferred secret American missile technology to China. The theft has allowed the Chinese to fast-forward their missile technology. Just a few years ago, they had two intercontinental ballistic missiles. Today they have nearly two dozen and most frightening, they are tipped by nuclear warheads that are almost exact copies of the most advanced warhead in the American arsenal. And the most outrageous part of the scandal is that many in power knew about it and did nothing to stop it. Naturally, the Clinton Administration does not want a full-scale investigation, because it will likely open up the question of campaign money from Beijing, and whether the administration allowed American businessmen who are big Democratic contributors to sell out our national interest. And it will almost certainly open up the question of whether our policy of so-called conciliatory engagement toward China has been a wise one. The administration, understandably, is putting its best spin on the scandal but in a way that would be humorous if not so tragic. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson told ABC that we need to keep things in perspective. After all, he said, China has only about 20 missiles compared to our 6,000. Well, 20 missiles can kill tens of millions of Americans. How many people have to be at risk before its okay to be concerned? The China scandal underscores what I have been saying in recent weeks about our foreign policy and the war in Yugoslavia: There is no consistency. We are bombing to stop the horrendous policies of Milosovic, although there is no direct U.S. interest at stake. China, on the other hand, is violating human rights on a massive scale, targeting America with nuclear technology, threatening to destabilize all of Asia—and we're unwilling to do anything. Americans must first come to a consensus about what we are willing to do in the post-Cold War world. Biblically, the sword is given to government to preserve order. The fact that we have not used even mild economic sanctions against China is scandalous when we knew they were corrupting our leaders and stealing our nuclear secrets. Second, we need to recognize that the world is fallen. Political force is needed to restrain sin. Biblically, government's first job is to protect its people, and that means doing what is necessary to protect national security. If we allow officials to look the other way for commercial interests or for their campaign coffers, and jeopardize national security, we break our sacred trust. Once we didn't hesitate to call this what it really is: treason. Americans must have the moral courage to face this issue squarely and deal with it. And we must use it as a platform on which we can build a responsible, biblically sound foreign policy for the future.

05/26/99