Don’t Let Xi and His Gang of Dictators Get the Upper Hand

Xi Jinping has spent the past week rolling out the red carpet for the world’s worst despots – otherwise known as China’s closest allies. Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian – the whole rogues’ gallery gathered in Beijing for what can only be described as a summit of tyrants. With military parades and grand diplomatic theater, Xi is sending an unmistakable message: China intends to lead an alternative world order designed to destroy American leadership and undermine the free world.

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Given the string of high-stakes failures by some of these partners, it makes sense that he would wish to save face and reassert his status as senior partner in this authoritarian alliance. Putin’s botched invasion of Ukraine – a war China has bankrolled from Day One – has exposed Russian military incompetence for the world to see. Iran’s nuclear program lies in shambles, and Tehran’s regional proxies have been systematically decimated. Allowing these humiliations to stand simply isn’t acceptable to a leader like Xi.

As the cliche goes, there’s truly no rest for the wicked. China is working overtime to maximize its leverage over junior partners like Russia and continues to shore up its position worldwide in opposition to American interests. We can’t afford to let him or any of his partners gain any ground. Unfortunately, Xi may be calculating that this is exactly what’s happening.

Putin showed contempt for President Trump’s patient pursuit of peace by following up on the Alaska Summit with some of the worst attacks on Ukraine in the past year, while the 50-day deadline given to Putin to end his war on Ukraine expired without punishment. Iran is determined to rebuild its nuclear program and reclaim its regional influence – the centerpiece of the regime’s survival strategy. In addition to blocking weapons inspectors from accessing nuclear sites, Tehran continues to pose an active security threat to both past and present officials around the world (including yours truly), and still sponsors terrorism around the globe – including the recent attacks on a synagogue and kosher food company in Australia.

Without decisive action by the United States showing that the risks of misbehavior outweigh the rewards, America’s enemies will rush to maximize their advantage. Xi is watching, calculating, waiting for the moment when he believes America lacks the will to defend Taiwan from his long-planned conquest.

We must act now to restore the deterrence that kept the peace during the first Trump Administration. That means imposing immediate and severe costs on Putin for his continued war on Ukraine. It means providing Ukraine with robust security guarantees backed by European allies and American resolve. And it means ramping up our maximum pressure campaign against Iran’s terrorist regime until they abandon their nuclear ambitions permanently.

Turning to China, we need to strengthen military alliances and defense cooperation to counter Chinese expansionism, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region, where the threat is most acute. We should aggressively develop alternative supply chains and investment frameworks to entice strategic partners away from China’s orbit. And we must shut down all avenues for Chinese espionage inside the United States to prevent the theft of our intellectual property and the dual-use technologies critical to our national security.

I know from my time serving in his first Administration that the President never enters a fight without having a strategy for victory. It’s why he was able to make the historic decision to take out Qassem Soleimani in his first term, and to help take out Iran’s nuclear program in his second. Today, we must apply that same shrewdness to unraveling the authoritarian alignment between China, Russia, Iran, and others that threatens our core interests.

Xi Jinping believes America and our allies are weak, decadent, and divided. He’s betting that we lack the strength and resolve to defend the international order that has brought unprecedented peace and prosperity to the world. It’s time to show him just how wrong he is.