The Chinese Communist Party’s “Third Warfare”

OPINION:

In its relentless quest for global hegemony, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has one overarching goal: to spread its ideological control to every corner of the world.

The U.S. stands in their way.

The CCP is poignantly aware that it cannot yet destroy the West at a kinetic level of warfare. However, there are other devastating ways to undermine and weaken the U.S. while simultaneously building the CCP’s military objectives.

“The CCP understood they needed the West to advance, and they are still taking advantage of that,” according to retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Robert Spalding. “Thus, the only option is for us to completely decouple and prevent our citizens from engaging with China.”

The CCP functions on a premise of “three warfares” (san zhan): public opinion, psychological, and legal warfare. These three interrelated and mutually reinforcing systems can hamstring the strategic and tactical capabilities of the U.S. and its allies.

The CCP has learned to use the U.S. legal system to weaken America’s standing as the world’s superpower. Tactics known as “lawfare” exploit the system as a means of achieving military objectives. A serious threat to U.S. national security, lawfare is a major component of fifth-generation warfare, which uses information to exploit cognitive biases, manipulate worldviews and destroy opponents from within.

“Like the Soviets, the CCP’s dictators are never shy of saying that law is the party’s instrument to destroy enemies,” wrote Bradley A. Thayer and Lianchao Han, and “the Communist Party always remains above the law.”

The ends sought by the CCP justify the means, even if it involves deceit, racism, and human rights abuses. As Cheng wrote, “Current [People’s Republic of China] behavior suggest that one should not necessarily expect the Chinese to refrain from engaging in activities they condemn in others.”

This unrestricted lawfare is used to weaken America, break the will of the people, and exert the CCP’s political control beyond its own borders, weaponizing the American judicial system to persecute Chinese dissidents and whistleblowers on American soil.

Antisemitism as a weapon: A current case study

Witness a cautionary tale that needs to spark a conversation about whether or not U.S. law firms should be representing the interests of the CCP:

On December 4, Jewish-American Lawyer Elliot Dordick filed an ethics complaint with the attorney grievance committee of New York’s First Judicial Department against Paul Hastings LLP. The complaint stems from filings by Paul Hastings LLP attorneys in an ongoing bankruptcy proceeding in Connecticut involving high-profile Chinese dissident, Miles Guo.

Dordick asked, “Why would these Paul Hastings LLP attorneys repeatedly cite a notoriously antisemitic, racist, anti-immigrant website in federal court to attack a Chinese dissident seeking asylum in the U.S. without telling the court of the nature of their source?”

The source in question is The Unz Review, a website founded by Ron Unz, who the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said, “has denied the Holocaust, endorsed the claim that Jews consume the blood of non-Jews, and has claimed that Jews control the media, hate non-Jews, and worship Satan.”

According to Dordick’s complaint, Chapter 11 Trustee Luc Despins and the other Paul Hastings attorneys substantively cited The Unz Review at least five times to justify their beliefs about the debtor’s alleged actions. The Unz Review article cited by Despins and the other Paul Hastings LLP attorneys was written by Pepe Escobar, who the U.S. State Department said is involved in “disinformation campaigns by foreign, authoritarian states.”

Dordick pointed out that while Despins and the other Paul Hastings LLP attorneys made sure to remind the bankruptcy court of its obligation to view the Department of Justice-appointed bankruptcy trustee’s evidence with deference, they “conveniently” failed to mention noteworthy aspects of the evidence’s source.

Dordick continued, “I’m stunned to see this coming from such a prestigious firm. I took it upon myself to file the ethics complaint upon discovering their actions. This legitimization of such an outrageous source has no place in our courtrooms.”

Dordick requested that the attorney grievance committee office investigate Paul Hastings LLP and Despins for potential ethics violations of rules related to dishonesty, deceit, and misrepresentation; conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice; conduct that adversely reflects on a lawyer’s fitness; and the failure to adequately supervise lawyers at the firm.

“How could Paul Hastings LLP possibly claim it properly oversees its attorneys if they lend credibility to sources of hatred in federal court?” Dordick wrote.

Supporters of the New Federal State of China (NFSC), a whistleblower movement seeking to take down the Chinese Communist Party and liberate the Chinese people, along with several noteworthy figures in the Jewish community—including former U.S. Deputy Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Ellie Cohanim, Newsweek Opinion Editor Josh Hammer, and former New York State Representative Dov Hikind—flooded the comments sections of Dordick’s social media posts with messages of support and solidarity with the Jewish community. Comments indicate strong opposition to any promotion of racist, antisemitic outlets in federal court by anyone, let alone attorneys at influential law firms.

This is just one battle amid an ongoing war for hearts, minds and ultimately, global hegemony that threatens all Americans, regardless of political affiliation. The U.S. Select Committee on China would do well to commit significant resources and scrutiny to ensure this is a war we do not lose.

• Kelly John Walker is Founder of FreedomTalk.