China is already winning World War III, via money

Actor John Cena’s cringe-worthy apology to China has become a viral sensation. While it may seem trivial to some, it serves as a visual touchstone to the aggressive tactics China employs to achieve domination.    

While promoting the ninth installment of the “Fast and Furious” movie franchise to a Taiwanese broadcaster, Cena said in part: “Taiwan is the first country that can watch ‘F-9.’”     

Cue the outrage among the leadership of the People’s Republic of China — and the apparent panic within the leadership of production companies behind the film, and those at Universal Pictures distributing the film, who need China’s movie-consumer money.

For China’s communist leaders, referring to Taiwan as a “country” is akin to touching an electrified third-rail. They don’t allow it.     

The next act from Cena was predictable. In what looks somewhat like a hostage video, Cena — apparently after being bombarded by calls from the film producers and their public relations flacks — launches into his demeaning apology. It may go down as an award-winning performance. Cena declared, in Mandarin:

“Hi, China, I’m John Cena. I’m in the middle of ‘Fast and Furious 9.’ I’m doing a lot of interviews. I made a mistake in one of my interviews. I made one mistake. I have to say something very, very, very important now: I love and respect China and Chinese people. I’m very, very sorry about my mistake. I apologize, I apologize; I’m very sorry. You must understand that I really love, really respect China and the Chinese people. My apologies. See you.”  

While Cena may be the most stunningly visual example of how some people prostrate themselves not to offend China, evidently in order to keep Chinese money pouring into bank accounts, he is far from alone. The iron fist of China has thousands of people around the world pinned under its gold-plated thumb. Most seem willing to ignore China’s egregious human rights violations in order to keep the money flowing.      

In the minds of China’s civilian and military leadership, they are acting in the best interests of their nation. Why bother to use your military might when those you oppose can be subjugated through economic means?  

That the United States is so easily letting them win across the board is truly shocking. Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders truly must be secretly stunned that American corporations, universities and colleges, Hollywood film studios, and sports leagues so willingly gorge themselves on CCP money they pour in the trough. It’s akin to fattening chickens and cattle until they have served their purpose and are ready to be devoured.       

While the term “useful idiot” has been attributed to the murderous duo of former Soviet premiers Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin — looking to cultivate obedient sympathizers to their Marxist goals via money, ideology, or violence — today, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “useful idiot” as: “A naïve or credulous person who can be manipulated or exploited to advance a cause or political agenda.”    

Billionaire entrepreneur Peter Thiel recently invoked that description when criticizing certain Big Tech corporations happily extracting billions of dollars from the CCP ATM machine while deliberately turning a blind eye to China’s forced labor camps and the human atrocities being committed within its borders. 

Will John Cena, Hollywood executives, college presidents, leaders of major league sports, and Big Tech plutocrats speak to that suffering? Sorry, that was a rhetorical question. We already know the answer is a silent, whimpering, “No.”

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) added to Thiel’s warning by saying that China has “deputized major American corporations and their leaders to … push for and pressure for policies that favor the Chinese position.” This brought a collective yawn by many who do China’s bidding.   

But, whether some on the left, in mainstream media, corporate America, Hollywood, or academia want to admit it or not, China is in the business of winning. And winning to the CCP usually means vanquishing the United States’s advantages by any means necessary.      

In a recent interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken touched on that reality when he said: “I think that over time, China believes that it can be and should be and will be the dominant country in the world.”     

Imagine the surprise to China’s leaders that in order to achieve global domination, instead of starting World War III, they simply had to cut some checks.

Douglas MacKinnon, a political and communications consultant, was a writer in the White House for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and former special assistant for policy and communications at the Pentagon during the last three years of the Bush administration.