On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson spoke before a joint session of Congress to seek a declaration of war against Germany.  Wilson had thus far maintained neutrality for nearly three years after World War I broke out on July 28, 1914, simultaneously preserving the lucrative U.S.-Europe sea trade.  After realizing, however, that Germany had made it clear that no merchant ship servicing Britain and continental Europe would be safe from U-boat attacks, the president was coerced to seek the lawmakers' approval for the United States' entry into the war, arguing that "The world must be made safe for democracy."

America's entry in World War I not only helped defeat Germany and its allies, but also began to pave the way for the U.S. to assume global leadership.  While this would not fully occur until the post–Second World War, by creating a network of alliances, the U.S., notwithstanding its geographic isolation from Europe and Asia, established a strong international balance that kept the Soviet Union from fully conquering the European and Asian continents.  Since then, democracy has had a safe haven due to the U.S. fostering initiatives, such as the following:

• The Occupation and Reconstruction of Japan (1945–52) — Led by General Douglas A. MacArthur, the U.S. enacted widespread military, political, economic and social reforms.
• The Marshall Plan — the U.S. operation that transferred over $12 billion in economic recovery programs to rebuild Western European economies and infrastructure after the end of Second World War.
• A continued American military presence in Europe with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which was a materialization of the League of Nations conceived by President Wilson after the First World War.

And while President Donald Trump's America First has been classified by various political scientists as an isolationist foreign policy — I too had reservations when in 2016 he said the U.S. defense of other NATO member-states was contingent on their fulfilling financial obligations —  Trump is carrying out the role as an American president and the leader of the free world should against communist China.

For those of us who remember, then-president George W. Bush sat on the sidelines as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) suppressed the pro-democracy demonstrations thirty years ago at Tiananmen Square as hundreds, if not thousands — who were expecting the U.S. to stand by them — were killed by the Chinese military, and many thousands of others were imprisoned.

President Trump, this past week, shut the Chinese consulate in Houston because of commercial espionage and intellectual property theft from American companies.   He also barred eleven new Chinese companies from purchasing American technology and products without a special license.   The Trump administration has said that firms such as Apple, Ralph Lauren, Google, HP, Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss, and Muji were complicit in human rights violations in China's campaign targeting Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang region.  The President had initially held off on penalizing Beijing for such abuses for a trade deal he signed with the CCP in January.

As demonstrated by a New York Times video, Chinese companies use contentious labor programs for Muslim Uighurs to satisfy demand for face masks and other personal protective equipment, some of which ended up in the U.S. and other countries — nine of the companies that the Trump administration cited on Monday, including Changji Esquel Textile Co. Ltd., Nanchang O-Film Tech, and Hetian Taida Apparel Co. Ltd., at the behest of the U.S. Department of Commerce, were added to the so-called entity list for their use of forced (slave) labor.

The most adamant "weapon" launched against the CCP came from secretary of state Mike Pompeo, who, during his visit to the United Kingdom these past few days, appealed to the  Chinese people to alter the ruling CCP's direction.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Pompeo denounced Chinese leader Xi Jinping as a "true believer in a bankrupt totalitarian ideology."  He also called upon the leading democracies, including Australia, to collectively work together to "induce change" in the CCP by supporting China's dissidents — the U.K. suspended its extradition pact with Hong Kong after the Xi regime eradicated democracy in its former colony.  The British government also announced that it will bar equipment made by Chinese company Huawei Technologies Co. from the country's 5G telecommunications networks following intense lobbying by the U.S. government, which says the company poses security risks.

Pompeo had recently stated that confronting communist China was a long-term policy for the  Trump administration, as well as a bipartisan priority for Congress, which has overwhelmingly passed legislation allowing for Chinese sanctions.  "Look, the American people are not going to allow our economic work, our talent to be stolen by the Chinese Communist Party," he said.

Many world leaders, as usual, have denounced Trump's America First as a unilateralist position on foreign policy.  Nevertheless, as can be seen, many key allies are now working together with the U.S. by taking a harder-edged approach to the CCP, especially for its role in the outbreak of COVID-19.

President Donald Trump has not always been perfect in his foreign policy — who ever is?  Yet when push comes to shove, he is coming through like no other Western leader has done in taking communist China on.  Thank you, Mr. President!

Image: Ninian Reid via Flickr.