Don’t let border crisis blind us to U.S.-China problems

Two worrisome crises have captured the attention of the American public. One is occurring along our nation’s porous southern border, where unprecedented numbers of asylum-seeking migrants are pouring in.

Despite this, a belated attempt by Congress and the Biden administration to deal with the crisis was thwarted this week when House Speaker Mike Johnson pronounced the U.S. Senate’s bipartisan compromise “dead on arrival.”

Meanwhile, the conflict that began with Hamas’s wanton attack on Israel widened as the U.S. belatedly retaliated against the Yemen-based Houthi rebels’ disruption of Red Sea shipping and against the Iran-backed militias attacking American outposts in the region.

Given those two major crises, it’d be easy to overlook the worsening problems emerging in U.S. relations with China, which on Saturday will mark the start of a new year. On the lunar calendar it’ll be “the year of the dragon.” Will it also be an eventful year in SinoAmerican relations, which have morphed from the interdependence of robust trading partners to a series of confrontations?

Even an armed conflict looms as possible because annexing Taiwan is among the major goals of China’s authoritarian President Xi Jinping. The

U.S. is committed to defending Taiwan, which incidentally is a key supplier of the computer chips that are essential to the functioning of the U.S. economy.

Pandemic-related supply chain problems alerted the U.S. to the risks inherent in being overly dependent on foreign sources for vital commodities ranging from pharmaceuticals to electronics. One result was the federal “CHIPS Act” to help Intel build a $20 billion factory in Ohio.

Last week, however, media in Ohio reported that the plant’s completion has been delayed … again. It won’t be producing chips until late in

2026, so the U.S. had better hope that China, which now has the world’s largest navy, doesn’t grab Taiwan anytime soon.

Moreover, China’s naval might isn’t the only cause for concern. As the Associated Press reported, during a January 30 appearance before the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, FBI Director Christopher Wray warned that the U.S. is not adequately prepared to counter cyberattacks by China and others.

Wray declared that “China’s hackers are positioning on American infrastructure in preparation to wreak havoc and cause real-world harm to American citizens and communities, if or when China decides the time has come to strike.”

Wray also explained that potential targets include pipelines, water treatment plants, and the entire electric grid. Massive power outages could disrupt the entire economy and could even disable U.S. military’s ability to retaliate.

This disturbing news comes amid reports that at a Beijing lab whose safety protocols are worse than those at the Wuhan lab from which COVID-19 may have escaped, scientists are experimenting with a virus that was

100% lethal in mice with a genetic makeup altered to resemble that of humans.

Meanwhile, as 60 Minutes reported on Sunday, there’s been a surge in Chinese migrants entering the U.S. through a border gap east of Tijuana, Mexico. Some say they’re looking for jobs that they couldn’t find in China’s troubled economy. Others claim they’re looking for freedom.

That latter reason is plausible because Xi Jinping’s increasingly repressive regime is now grappling with domestic problems including huge bankruptcies, a population decline and adverse demographic trends that are a legacy of the now abandoned policies limiting families to a single child.

So, given its domestic problems, is China somehow preparing to wag the dog? It’s a time-honored tactic of worried rulers, who use military adventures abroad to rally their citizens and distract them from problems at home.

Moreover, taken together these issues raise a worrisome question: Is America ready to respond if and when China decides that the year of the dragon is the right time to wag the dog?

Robert F. Sanchez, of Tallahassee, is a former member of the Miami Herald Editorial Board. He writes for the Herald’s conservative opinion newsletter, Right to the Point.