Ted Cruz and Hong Kong's Democrats - WSJ editorial

[question everything]

Rafael Cruz, the father of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, came to the U.S. from Cuba in 1957 on a four-year student visa. He had sided with Fidel Castro against the Batista dictatorship, for which he was jailed and beaten. But he later soured on Castro and was granted political asylum in the U.S. Like so many people who have escaped political oppression, Mr. Cruz has a special appreciation for America and its freedoms. So why did his son recently block legislation on the Senate floor to open America’s door to people like his father—Hong Kongers now enduring a crackdown by another Communist government?

The legislation is “The Hong Kong People’s Freedom and Choice Act of 2020,” and it passed the House in early December by voice vote. The bill would make it easier for Hong Kongers to gain refugee or temporary protected status. TPS allows people from designated countries to remain and work in the United Status.

Mr. Cruz, who has supported Hong Kong’s democracy movement in the past, offers two main objections. First, he says the bill isn’t really about helping Hong Kong; it’s another Democratic effort to relax standards on behalf of “open borders.” Second, he says it would give China an opening to infiltrate spies into the U.S. He prefers his own bill to cut off federal funding for Hollywood filmmakers who censor their films for screening in China. He is also pushing the Shame Act, which would sanction China for forced sterilizations and abortions directed at religious minorities such as the Muslim Uighurs.

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China probably would try to use an opening for Hong Kongers to sneak its agents in. But that was also true of Cuba’s escapees. And if the issue is spies, who are more likely to be agents for Beijing: Hong Kongers who risked arrest by protesting for democracy, often carrying American flags—or the children of Chinese Communist Party members who attend American universities? The Hong Kongers who would take advantage of a legal path to the U.S. are decent, hard-working people like Rafael Cruz. The Republican Party spoke up for Soviet refuseniks and dissidents during the Cold War. But now some want a new Cold War with China while shunning its victims.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/ted-cruz-and-hong-kongs-democrats-11608853064 (subscription)

[modrepub]

1. Mistake of Legislating Competition

Saw an article that China if projected to become the world's largest economy by 2028 yesterday. This has many in the US quaking in their boots. The Trump administration has done its best to supplant the Russian boogeyman with a Chinese version. There may be some truth to that but to be honest, China's economic "miracle" is because big American business companies saw the Chinese market as a fantastic growth machine and supported its integration into the world economy back in the 1990s.

When American businesses and politicians complain about Chinese espionage and unfair competition all I can think of is all the politicians and business folks who went hog wild to get themselves access to the largest potential market in the world. There's a price to pay for that access. The US did the same thing as China has done during its founding and the initial parts of the industrial revolution. Many industrial processed were taken from Europe and applied state side where labor was cheaper.

Instead of investing in its infrastructure, trying to give its people access to job retraining and investing in education the US has thrown large portions of its GDP into the military industrial complex. We should focus our energies in keeping our workforce productive, encouraging innovation and developing new technologies. Tariffs, economic restrictions and punishments only put off hard decisions about maintaining inefficient industries. This holds back needed retooling into other more productive ventures.

It's kind of funny. Republicans used to stand for free trade and low tariffs. Now they seem to be for protectionism, government cronyism and insider trading. In the long run, these policies will be responsible for our economy playing second fiddle. Countries that construct protective barriers and maintain large militaries are not going to do well in the long run.