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Gatestone Institute senior fellow Gordon Chang sounded the alarm this week, telling Fox News that Xi Jinping is actively preparing China “for battle” as he tightens his grip on the military and stokes nationalist fervor ahead of President Donald Trump’s summit with Beijing. Chang’s blunt warning should unsettle every American who still believes diplomatic niceties alone will keep our children safe.
The evidence Chang points to is chilling: a People’s Liberation Army rapidly modernizing its capabilities, purges of dissenting officers, and propaganda aimed at mobilizing the populace for conflict rather than commerce. Congressional hearings and security reports have repeatedly documented Beijing’s push to field attack capabilities and to deny Taiwan external support by force if necessary, which is exactly the pattern Chang describes.
Make no mistake, a summit with Xi is not a victory lap unless it produces concrete American gains; it can easily become a propaganda triumph for a regime that wants the world to see weakness as an opening. Reporting shows the talks have emphasized business ties even as Xi warns about Taiwan, and that emphasis risks rewarding coercion while American strength atrophies. The President must not allow optics to substitute for national security wins.
Conservatives who truly love this country should demand a two-track approach: engage on trade and investment where it benefits Americans, but punish aggression with tariffs, export controls, and a durable military buildup that restores deterrence. The alternative—unfettered access to our technology and markets—would hand Xi the tools to project power and undermine our freedoms for decades. If history teaches anything, it is that peace through weakness is peace only until the bully grows bolder.
Recent reporting and expert testimony link Beijing to aggressive actions beyond mere saber-rattling, from provocative missile and drone activity to cyber and economic warfare aimed at American interests. Those are not abstract policy disputes; they are asymmetric attacks on our people and prosperity that demand an unapologetic response. Americans should expect their leaders to treat these threats like what they are: deliberate attempts to reshape the balance of power.
Now is the time for patriots to stand firm: support a President who understands that negotiating from strength protects our citizens, press Congress to secure supply chains and ban technology transfers that empower enemies, and insist our military has the resources it needs to deter war, not invite it. We owe it to the men and women in uniform and to future generations to reject appeasement and to prepare this nation to prevail if the hour of decision comes.
