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Kevin Ruddy
Proff. Helmers
English Comp
8/7/2021

The Communist Party of China: A Threat to Humanity

When United States President Richard Nixon visited the People’s Republic of Chi1na in 1972, the

nation was still a third world country mostly isolated in the geopolitical sphere. Nixon’s visit would come

during China’s cultural revolution, a period when 80 million peoples living under the Communist Party of

China perished senselessly and unnaturally at the hands of the totalitarian regime. Nixon’s visit would

only solidify the tyrannical grip of Mao Zedong and his communist government, and would usher in an

industrial revolution on a scale never seen before. Since then, the Communist Party of China has

prospered, the death of Mao in 1976 brought a new authoritarian market-based economy that has

greatly up lifted the people of China. This uplifting of the Chinese peoples who were starving to death by

the millions during much of the 20 th century is truly an achievement for humanity. But the cost has been

paid by middle class people from developed nations primarily in the west, and the progress has made

the ultra-tyrannical Communist Party of China into a world power. A regime who had murdered perhaps

over 80 million of their own just a few decades ago, is now in possession of a nuclear arsenal and the

second most powerful military force on Earth. World trade is completely reliant the Communist regime

who to this day is actively committing genocide against their people. So many around the world are

asking, what threat does the Communist party of China pose to Humanity?

On October 1st, 1949, Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong declared the creation of the

Peoples Republic of China, China would not become a republic, but a corrupt totalitarian state only

concerned by wealth and power. From the founding of the nation until Mao’s death the Communist
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Party of China operated a highly dysfunctional socialist economy based strictly of off Mao’s Marxist

fundamentals. The Communist Party would lead their people into “The Great Lead Forward”, where

over 50 million Chinese would perish due to starvation and the utter incompetence of the Communist

Party. Not long after another 80 million would perish during the “Cultural Revolution”. Also, during

these years China would make a series of territorial claims, including Taiwan, Tibet, and parts of India.

Since, China has become a world power due to foreign investment and the liberalization of the Chinese

economy, with little concern for their people the Chinese Communist Party is able to control the world

economy by offering foreign companies manufacturing costs that are impossible to compete with, and

by engaging in unethical dealings all over the world that no other nations are willing to make.

Corporations are unable to turn away from these opportunities if they wish to stay competitive, and

governments are unable to regulate trade with China without severe disruption to the global economy.

The modern Chinese Communist Party’s ambitions are nothing less than global domination in all

domains. Their economic and territorial goals intensify with every day that passes. This consolidation of

power is an imminent threat to the global economy, and a existential threat to nations like Taiwan, and

others around Asia.

Perhaps the greatest global concern regarding the Communist Party of China’s economic

strangle hold is their control over rare earth element (REEs) and critical minerals. According to Areil

Cohen and James C. Grant at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, China owns 36.7% of global rare

earth elements and critical mineral totals. In 2019 alone, it produced 62% of the world’s raw materials,

with the United States only producing 12.2%. These materials are essential to the production of

essentially all items the people of the world rely on today, especially hi-technology. Currently the world
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economy is completely reliant on China’s supply and production of rare and critical materials. With this

power over the supply chain the Communist Party of China can dictate the world economy, and the flow

of essential high-tech goods. Cohen and Grant suggest the United States will likely make big efforts to

secure the western supply chain of REEs and critical minerals in coming years.

While in the theater of economics the Communist Party of China masquerades as an altruistic

force pushing for world peace and prosperity, their territorial ambitions are much more straight forward

and belligerent but are still hidden behind a mask of altruism. Since the founding of the Communist

Party of China, one goal has remained consistent, the acquisition of Taiwan by any means necessary. A

small island nation and thriving democracy, Taiwan is not recognized as a country by most of the world,

regardless of all the support they receive from the United States and other nations. Originally founded

by Chinese nationalists fleeing communist tyranny, Taiwan has become the focal point of tensions

between liberal nations and the Communist Party of China, according to Lindsay Maizland from the

Council on Foreign Relations. “Taiwan has been governed independently of China since 1949, but Beijing

views the island as part of its territory. Beijing has vowed to eventually “unify” Taiwan with the

mainland, using force if necessary.” An invasion of Taiwan could rival the likes of climate change with

the threats that it poses to humanity. The breakout of a major conflict between China and Taiwan could

very likely spiral into a third world war. Nations such as India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and many

more would be directly threatened by such an event. And with the recent toppling of Hong Kong and

every ounce of liberty that once existed in the city, such an event seems even more likely.

Hong Kong is the poster child of communist tyranny. Once a crown jewel of Asia, and thriving

center of liberalism within the region, the city is now the prime example of how the Communist Party of

China can impose its oppressive totalitarianism in the blink of an eye. Lindsay Maizland and Elanor

Albert from the Council of Foreign Relations have spoken out against the large-scale deterioration of
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Hong Kong and Hong Konger’s civil liberties since the Communist Party took control of the city from the

United Kingdom. They point to the implementation of Hong Kong’s highly controversial national security

law, which criminalizes any descent and adopts extremely broad definitions for crimes such as terrorism,

subversion, secession, and collusion with foreign powers. These laws make democracy virtually

impossible and turn democratic notions into threats of terrorism. Similar laws have been implemented

in mainland China, but with even more extreme characteristics and consequences.

China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang is currently the center of the Communist Party of

China’s oppression. Home to 12 million ethnic Uyghurs, and other Muslims, the Communist Party of

China is currently engaged in the largest genocide of an ethnic minority since the holocaust, to erase the

Uyghur culture, and assimilate Uyghurs into Han Chinese culture. Similar laws to Hong Kong’s have been

implemented in Xinjiang, making any dissent a crime. Vice News correspondent Isobel Yeung bravely

visited the region in 2019 to show the world the genocide that was shrouded in secrecy. In her

documentary the totalitarian state and all its atrocity is exposed, Uyghurs are seen being marched

through the streets silently in the dead of night, on their way to so called “reeducation camps”, where

millions of Uyghurs are currently being held against their will. In these camps Uyghur men and women

are sterilized, brainwashed, tortured, and many killed. Many of these imprisoned Uyghurs are used as

slaves in Xinjiang’s cotton and solar industries. Companies such as Nike, Apple, Amazon, Samsung, BMW,

and many more directly benefit from Uyghur slave labor. A consequence of China’s strangle hold on the

world economy, these corporations are seemingly powerless and can do nothing but slightly

acknowledge the activity. If this is the fate of the Uyghurs, could this not be the fate of the Taiwanese?

Or even the rest of humanity?

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The rise of Communist China in recent years as a global superpower is reminiscent of the rise of

the Nazi Third Reich or Soviet Union in the early 20 th century. The Communist Party of China is the

newest totalitarian throwing its weight around the world stage, but this time around it seems there is no

one nation who can get in their way. The Chinese government is a threat to humanity in multiple realms,

their iron grip on the world supply chain is used to control the most sovereign of nations, their

territorially ambitions threaten a third world war, their implementation of authoritarian laws in Hong

Kong pose great risk to legal systems around the globe as developing nations observe these laws and

make them their own, and in a true return to the early 20 th century the Communist Party of China is

committing a massive genocide against its own citizens. The Chinese Communist Party is of great threat

to humanity, perhaps it is even the greatest threat to humanity, the only question left is when the rest

of the world will come to a similar conclusion.

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Works Cited

(Choen, Ariel. Grant, James. America’s Critical Strategic Vulnerability:

Rare Earth Elements, Foreign Policy Research Institute,

6/22/2021)

https://www.fpri.org/article/2021/06/americas-critical-

strategic-vulnerability-rare-earth-elements/

(Lawernce, Alan. China Under Communism, Routledge London; New

York, 1998, pg.7-107)

(Maizland, Lindsay. Why China-Taiwan Relations Are So Tense,

Council on Foreign Relations, 5/10/2021)

https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/china-taiwan-

relations-tension-us-policy

(Maizland, Lindsay. Albert, Eleanor. Hong Kong’s Freedoms: What

China Promised and How Its Cracking down,

Council on Foreign Relations, 2/17/2021)

https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/hong-kong-

freedoms-democracy-protests-china-crackdown
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(Yeung, Isobel. China’s Vanishing Muslims: Undercover In The Most

Dystopian Place In The World, Vice News,

6/29/2019)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=v7AYyUqrMuQ&ab_channel=VICENews
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In my final research paper I took advantage of a couple more sources,

included here.

(Dollar, David. Seven years Into China’s Belt and Road, BROOKINGS,

10/1/2020)

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-

chaos/2020/10/01/seven-years-into-chinas-belt-and-road/

(Dr.Dreyer, June. China’s Monopoly on Rare Earth Elements-and Why We

should Care, Foreign Policy Research Institute, 10/07/2020)

https://www.fpri.org/article/2020/10/chinas-monopoly-on-rare-earth-elements-and-

why-we-should-care/

(Frankopan, Peter. The Silk Roads, pg. 1-30, Penguin New-York, 2015)

(The Heritage Foundation, How China Is Taking Control of Hollywood)

https://www.heritage.org/asia/heritage-explains/how-china-taking-control-

hollywood

(Xu, Beina. Albert, Elanor. Media Censorship in China, Council on Foreign

Relations, 02/17/17)

https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/media-censorship-china
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The new sources I added really helped me create a more comprehensive paper. Without

them I wouldn’t had been able to make some of the claims I had without my intellectual

honesty coming into question. I think these sources really closed me off from a lot of

potential fallacies. Along with enhancing my writing, this sources have truly expanded

my knowledge on the Communist Party of China.