FPI / May 29, 2021

By Christopher W Holton, Center for Security Policy

As I write this article a 100-foot, 19-ton section of a Chinese space rocket is plummeting to earth in what is euphemistically referred to as an “uncontrolled re-entry.”

What is really happening is that a huge hunk of space debris is set to crash to earth, courtesy of the brain trust at the Communist Chinese space program.

To make matters worse, there is no way at this point of predicting exactly when the orbiting giant will come down or where that will occur. It could very well come down in an inhabited area.

What is most infuriating about all this is that it doesn’t have to be this way.

According to Adam Smith of The Independent, usually rocket stages are built with controls designed to steer them away from inhabited areas, usually out in mid-ocean. But China’s massive Long March 5B has no such safeguards.

Other countries take precautions to prevent things like this from happening, but the Chinese either are incapable of such technical know-how or else they just don’t care. And that is the bigger issue here.

The crash of the Long March to earth is but the latest in a long line of issues in which the Communist Chinese have shown complete carelessness about the safety of their fellow man:

• Toxic Chinese drywall used in the construction of 100,000 residential homes in 20 US states from 2001 to 2009 caused a variety of health problems for innocent Americans.

• China exported toxic toothpaste containing diethylene glycol to the U.S. Diethylene glycol is better known as an ingredient in anti-freeze.

• In 2008, Chinese-made candy exported to the U.S., New Zealand and the Philippines contained formaldehyde and a compound called melamine which is ordinarily used in the manufacture of cookware.

• Speaking of melamine, in 2007, 4,000 dogs and cats in the U.S. died when dog food products manufactured in China were purposely laced with the substance to boost the protein content.

• In 2007, limits had to be imposed on imported Chinese fish after it was discovered that the Chinese were pumping them with cancer-causing drugs to offset China’s disgustingly polluted waters.

• Almost all our toys are now made in China. Hundreds of different kinds of toys have had to be recalled or removed from shelves because the Chinese have made them with lead paint (as well as other harmful substances), which has been shown to cause brain damage in children.

• Then there is what is perhaps the most toxic Chinese import, the deadly drug Fentanyl, manufactured in Chinese factories, which has been coming into the US from China for years, fueling the opioid crisis.

All of the items on this partial list pale in comparison to the ongoing pandemic originating in Wuhan, China in late 2019, which has killed millions and brought unprecedented levels of human misery around the globe.

Whether or not the virus was produced in a Chinese laboratory is an interesting debate topic, but there can be no doubt that the actions of the Communist Chinese regime from the early days of the outbreak involved outright lies and cover-ups which resulted in perhaps hundreds of thousands of deaths that otherwise would not have happened.

During the critical early days and weeks of the outbreak, the Communist Chinese regime attempted to cover up the truth and punish doctors who wanted to warn the Chinese people and the world.

In a breach of usual global practice, Communist Chinese officials refused to allow health officials from other countries to have unfettered access to data about the virus and its spread. Only when it exploded in Wuhan (a major air and rail transportation hub with people spreading the virus elsewhere in China and around the world) was China forced to admit the nature of the epidemic.  But they still concealed much of the truth.

Eventually, to add insult to injury, an official communist party publication put out the absurd allegation that the U.S. Army planted the virus in Wuhan.

What may have started out as simple malfeasance, incompetence or neglect on the part of the Red Chinese quickly morphed into nefariousness once it came time for them to take action and communicate with the rest of the world. As of January 14, Red Chinese officials were telling the World Health Organization  (WHO) that the Wuhan virus was not transmitted from person to person. WHO then parroted this falsehood, reporting publicly via Twitter that there was no indication that the virus was transmitted from person to person.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is personally responsible for inflicting this pandemic on the world. As 60 Minutes Australia reported:

In January President Xi Jinping made a decision that would ultimately condemn the world: allowing 5 million people to leave the epicenter of the virus without being screened.

Let that sink in. FIVE MILLION PEOPLE TRAVELED TO AND FROM WUHAN WHILE THE VIRUS WAS RAGING.

At the same time that Red China was spreading this disinformation, they were doing something else: they were mobilizing their state-owned corporations and entities around the world to buy up medical supplies (such as the protective masks and hand sanitizer that became so scarce in America and elsewhere) and ship them back to China.

Just over a year later, the crash of Communist China’s Long March rocket to earth, potentially into an inhabited area, is symbolic of a communist regime and communist system that is completely unconcerned about human life or civilized, international norms of behavior.

Once again, the world waits with clenched fists and gnashed teeth waiting to see what happens from the latest case of Communist Chinese criminal negligence.

Christopher Holton is Senior Analyst at the Center for Security Policy.

FPI, Free Press International