(Minghui.org) The story of the farmer and the snake is a well-known Aesop’s fable. Taking pity on a frozen snake, a farmer held it to his chest to warm it up. When the snake revived, it bit the man, who uttered one sentence before dying: “Learn from my fate not to take pity on a scoundrel.”
Unfortunately, this scenario is also unfolding in real life. As explained below, the United States helped the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to expand over the past several decades. After gaining enough strength, the CCP abandoned its strategy of “hiding your strength, biding your time” and has since begun to threaten the United States and undermine free society.
Growth of the CCP
Although the CCP was initially supported by the Soviet Union, the two were at odds after Nikita Khrushchev denounced Joseph Stalin in 1956 for his brutality. This external pressure on the CCP was compounded by its internal stresses, including the Great Famine (1958-1962), the Cultural Revolution, and the Lin Biao incident (1971).
It was at this lowest point that US President Richard Nixon visited China in 1972, and a diplomatic relationship between the two countries was established in 1979. In 1980, after granting China most-favored-nation (MFN) trade status, President Jimmy Carter facilitated China’s membership in the World Bank that same year, followed by membership in the Asian Development Bank in 1986.
Controls on technology exports to the PRC were loosened in 1983. Then, “In 1986, the Reagan administration even helped the PRC establish research programs in genetic engineering, automation, biotech, lasers, space technology, manned spaceflight, intelligent robotics, and supercomputers,” recalled David Stilwell, Assistant Secretary of State, in a 2019 speech.
Although Bill Clinton strongly criticized the CCP’s human rights record in his early years, he provided extensive support during his tenure as US president (1993-2001). “In the 1990s, American investment banks worked with PRC leaders to create state- owned mega firms such as China Mobile, and then raised money via stock listings in places like New York and London. US policy, meanwhile, allowed them to raise money from U.S. investors, despite not meeting basic regulatory requirements. Tens of billions of dollars flowed into PRC state coffers,” said Stilwell. “No other country has received such an outpouring of US capacity building as the PRC has.”
Consequences of Nurturing a Scoundrel
Looking back over the past several decades, the US aided China, often at the price of human rights, freedom, Western ideology, and the economy. To make things worse, even after the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989 and the onset of the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, this support continued unabated.
With support from the US, China gained Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) in 2000 and entered the WTO in 2001. In 2009, it surpassed Germany, becoming the world’s largest exporter. The following year, it became the world’s second-largest economic entity.
Contrary to what some Western leaders had expected, however, economic growth in China did not lead to openness and freedom. Fueled by a strong financial foundation, the CCP became even more aggressive in its domestic suppression, overseas infiltration, and now transnational suppression, including the persecution of Falun Gong.
This is not surprising given the baton of communism passed from Karl Marx to the Soviet Union and the CCP. “The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win,” wrote Marx. Vladimir Lenin, in turn, founded the Communist International (the Comintern), which spread to China and grew into the CCP.
Back in 1999, CCP military officials had already proposed the strategy of unrestricted warfare to destroy enemies (such as the United States) at all costs. Since the 2010s, the CCP's use of Wolf Warrior diplomacy has become dominant. All these are consistent with the catastrophic damage caused by the CCP during the recent pandemic and the 27-year persecution of Falun Gong, the largest suppression based on faith in modern history.
In China, there is a version of the farmer and the snake, but it has a different ending. In “The Wolf of Zhongshan,” a scholar named Mr. Dongguo saw a wolf being pursued by a hunter. Responding to the wolf’s plea, the scholar hid the wolf in his book bag and saved the creature from the hunter. But after the hunter departed, the ungrateful and hungry wolf wanted to eat the scholar, saying, “Since you have saved me once, why not save me again?”
Fortunately, a farmer arrived and, after listening to both the scholar and the wolf, expressed disbelief, insisting the bag was too small for the wolf. To convince the farmer, the wolf crawled into the bag again. Acting quickly, the farmer tied the bag shut and, with the help of the scholar, they killed the wolf, bringing the story to a close.
Ultimately, it is up to us to decide which version of the story we believe.
Category: Perspectives
