(Minghui.org) In his recent book, The End of Democracy?, published on October 8, political strategist Douglas E. Schoen focuses on the Chinese Communist Party's threat to Western values. 

“It seems clear now that Covid-19 will take a place in world history, a seismic event of the twenty-first century whose effects will only be fully understood over many years, even decades,” Mr. Schoen wrote in the book. “What also seems clear is that the United States-China relationship will change—indeed, must change. The question is how, and along what lines.”

As a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Fox News, Schoen is also a renowned Democratic campaign consultant for more than 40 years. His clients include former U.S. Presidents, former New York City mayors, and heads of states from more than 15 countries. 

“The Chinese Communist Party poses a legitimate threat to American power and stability and must be treated as such,’’ remarked Schoen in a recent interview with Newsmax.

He also praised U.S. President Donald Trump for launching the trade war against China. “He has opened the battle, and for this, I commend him,” he explained, “Trump has isolated a core truth: contrary to popular belief, China is not our friend.”

Mr. Schoen said that this represents an advance over the policies of past administrations. “The only language that the Chinese Communists truly understand—and respect—is that of power and force,” he added. 

The international community has come a long way in understanding this. “Everybody has been afraid to take China on, so nobody takes them on … We need a systematic confrontational policy towards China,” he emphasized.

More specifically, Mr. Schoen stressed that the U.S. must support Chinese dissident groups such as Falun Gong and dissatisfied young people who oppose the oppressive communist regime. 

He indicated that the Trump administration has taken a series of actions. For example, investment ties were cut between U.S. federal retirement funds and Chinese equities, which concerned about $4 billion in assets. “Meantime, U.S. lawmakers, in tandem with Canadian counterparts and Indian attorneys, are pursuing various legal actions, including reparations, against China for inflicting the coronavirus on the world, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths and hundreds of billions, if not trillions, in economic damage,” Schoen wrote in the book. 

Besides major business threats posed by China, such as those related to Huawei and intellectual property theft, Schoen also discussed human rights in his book. 

“In June, President Trump signed legislation imposing sanctions on the Chinese officials responsible for the forced labor camps that Beijing has set up for Uighur Muslims,” he wrote, citing a new law from Trump that “holds accountable perpetrators of human rights violations and abuses such as the systematic use of indoctrination camps, forced labor, and intrusive surveillance to eradicate the ethnic identity and religious beliefs of Uyghurs and other minorities in China.”

In July, the House of Representatives also passed a bill imposing sanctions on banks that do business with Chinese officials involved in Beijing’s ongoing crackdown against the Hong Kong democracy movement. This specifically applies to those officials who helped implement the new national security law that is designed to suppress dissidents.

Schoen added, “In August, President Trump imposed the first US sanctions against officials from China and Hong Kong over suppression of pro-democracy protests and dissent in the territory, seeking to punish China for its repression in Hong Kong.”

The book discusses how the coronavirus has changed the world in many ways. “The damage it has done should not be minimized or denied,” Mr. Schoen states. “But it may yet prove a grim blessing, if it serves, at last, as a wake-up call to the United States—a deadly but valuable reminder of truths both timeless and specific.”