Thus spoke Xi Jinping this week in Beijing, “Modernization is an inalienable right of all countries, but the Western approach to it has inflicted immense sufferings on developing countries.”

(You can find the full and official text of the speech at: Full text: Keynote address by Chinese President Xi Jinping at opening ceremony of 2024 FOCAC summit (www.gov.cn))

General Secretary Xi Jinping begins by appropriating the legitimacy of “inalienable rights.” A band of radical, revolutionary colonists established inalienable rights as the gold standard for assessing the legitimacy of governments as they formed the United States of America. Relying on the barrel of a gun for the Communist Party of China (CPC) rightfulness to rule relegates the CPC to lower rungs of governance authenticity.

Xi knows this.

That’s why much of his address to African leaders twists thin threads from history to weave a backdrop that shrouds economic inducements from scrutiny. Xi needs this “Chinese curtain” to hide the truth that his political party, the CPC, depends not on the compassion that he asks others to believe but instead on brutality to direct the behaviors of populations CPC governs or seeks to influence.

The CPC’s brutality encompasses sterilizing Uyghurs in Xinjiang, bribing public servants in New York, and more.

US leaders could shred the shroud that hides Xi’s inappropriate activities by requiring transparency in international infrastructure investments from all nations.