Leaked Directive Reveals the CCP’s Desperate Strategy to Survive the Trade War: Heng He

[FULL TRANSCRIPT BELOW] A recently leaked directive details the Chinese Communist Party’s strategy to respond to Trump’s tariffs.

How is the CCP trying to leverage this moment? Will this be the end of China as the “factory of the world?”

And what’s behind the purges in the military, the apparent removal of two Xi Jinping loyalists, and recent changes in top CCP leadership? Why did two top CCP officials recently swap positions?

Joining us today is longtime China analyst and commentator Heng He.

Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.   

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Jan Jekielek:

Heng He, such a pleasure to have you on American Thought Leaders.

Heng He:

Thank you for having me.

Mr. Jekielek:

The Chinese Communist Party recently issued a secret internal directive in response to the broad tariffs that the U.S. administration has imposed on China. What was the most important thing that was leaked?

Mr. He:

The purpose of this internal directive is to tell the whole party system that it’s time to end the dominance of the United States since World War II in three fields: economic, military, and international politics. This is huge because I have never heard them openly talk about this. Of course, this is internal. But even internally, since the end of the Cultural Revolution, they never really mentioned that, so this is huge.

Mr. Jekielek:

But we’ve known that the Chinese Communist Party is trying to subvert the U.S. to take the dominant position by 2050. That was the original timeline. Is it really that significant that they’re putting out an internal directive like this? What makes this particular directive different? 

Mr. He:

For 40 years, the Chinese Communist Party focused on economic reform, and they tried to please the United States, trying to get the chance to take advantage of this openness to the world. But now it seems they think they are strong enough to totally openly admit their purpose. Their goals have totally changed from following world economic development, to taking it over.

Mr. Jekielek:

That’s astonishing, because we hear that the Chinese economy has huge problems and Xi Jinping has lost a lot of power. Why are they now saying this is their chance to officially take the top position in the world?

Mr. He:

In Chinese, they call it Weiji. Weiji means that a crisis is an opportunity. Any crisis will be considered an opportunity. At this time, they are trying to calm down the internal unease from the tariff war. Every time when they face a crisis, they need something to encourage the system.    

Mr. Jekielek:

Something for everyone to rally behind.

Mr. He:

Yes. When China’s economy and the situation over there is really bad, they need someone to blame, so they blame the United States.

Mr. Jekielek:

One of these notes is about the United Front and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs working together to influence European countries against the United States. Can you explain that and also remind us what the United Front is?

Mr. He:

The United Front is one of the CCP’s three major weapons to take over power in China. Mao Zedong said that there are three weapons that made the Chinese revolution successful: the military, the United Front, and the party’s organization. The United Front is for making friends. They must unite all the powers, even if they consider someone to be an enemy. But for the moment, they will become friends, bringing all the possible allies together to fulfill the CCP’s purpose. That’s the United Front.

Mr. Jekielek:

They identify some countries like the UK, Germany, and France. Why are they thinking about these countries?

Mr. He:

At this moment, they consider European countries to be their friends against the United States. The United Front work will unite those European countries that are also targeted by the U.S. as tariff targets. That’s how the United Front will make friends with the European countries against the United States.

Mr. Jekielek:

U.S. administration officials have talked about the need to bring the various European nations under the U.S. banner. This is a choice Europe will have to make. 

Mr. He:

The fact is no single country can replace the consumer market of the United States; no European country can. China cannot take this position because its economy is not based on consumer orientation, but on export orientation. That way, nobody can replace the United States. How can you unite the European nations? Because every country considers their policy based on their own interests.

Mr. Jekielek:

Also mentioned in the notes is the implementation of a rationing system. Why would they be implementing that kind of a system when they are claiming supremacy? 

Mr. He:

They know exactly why they got rich. It’s from openness to the West. But now they understand if the worst scenario happens, then they must go back to the Cultural Revolution, to even before the Cultural Revolution. At that time, China was totally isolated, so the material and consumer products were very rare. They have to prepare for a distribution system that is totally different. It’s not a market economy, but a fully planned economy. That means the CCP is preparing for a totally closed door, which is the worst scenario.

Mr. Jekielek:

You talked about the United Front as being one of the three elements that Mao Zedong outlined along with the military. The third element is the party organization. Recently, the heads of the United Front and the party organization were swapped. 

Mr. He:

Yes, this swap is very strange, because in the CCP’s entire history, it has never happened before. Either you were purged or you retired and were replaced. The CCP has only four departments at the top, and those are two of them. This swap doesn’t make sense. But if we consider that the CCP now has a big power struggle at the top, that could explain it. 

Because the organization department is very important. It decides who sees power and who places their people in the right positions. While the United Front is also very important, it only deals with the outside and is not considered the most important element in the internal power struggle. That’s why I think the important person must be put in the organization department, and the less important person put in the United Front. 

Because anybody can work in the United Front; it has been a well-organized effort for many years. Even if you change the head of the department, the work will still be done. Somebody wants to make sure of the other power. For the past maybe 10 years or more, Xi Jinping has been in charge. But now somebody wants to take over this position and probably put some other people in those positions.

Mr. Jekielek:

On the surface, Xi Jinping is the paramount leader in charge of everything. You’re saying that his power has actually been reduced quite a bit. This is a very opaque system that many people just don’t understand. What are the power centers in the Communist Party? What is the role of the Politburo and the Standing Committee? How does that power work and what is the analogy in the West?

Mr. He:

The most powerful is the Politburo Standing Committee. That’s usually nine persons, or sometimes seven persons in charge of everything. Only the Standing Committee makes the decision. Sometimes retired top leaders can also make the decision, but that’s a special case.

That’s why when Deng Xiaoping was in power, he tried to get the old retired top leaders to also control the whole system. He set up an advisory committee, and when they expanded the Standing Committee meetings, he could include those old leaders, like an advisory board, to join the meeting. Not only that, they could vote. That’s one thing. 

But now the advisory board does not exist anymore. When Xi Jinping took over, he made sure that part of the standing committee consisted of all his people. During his third term, he made sure everybody was his people. That meansold leaders, if they’re still alive, need to have someone inside the party and at the top to help them get the chance to vote and make the decision. If a crisis happens, maybe at that time, they will have the chance to influence the final results.

Mr. Jekielek:

The CCP functions like a mafia organization. Now, Xi Jinping is the head don who has consolidated all the power. Can you comment on that?

 Mr. He:

If we consider the circumstances of Stalin’s death, when Stalin lost consciousness, they had to include many important people, even those not necessarily in power at the time, to discuss how to solve the situation and how to deal with it. Modern times are also the same. Last year, during the third plenary session of the party central committee, something happened. Very likely, he had a stroke.    

Mr. Jekielek:

That’s Xi Jinping we’re talking about. There were rumors that he had strokes, with one in July of 2024. 

Mr. He:

Yes, July of 2024. That’s the only time I can consider that the older leaders got involved. They are not currently in the power circle, but they got involved, also with the help of those still in the standing committee. They made the decision to strip Xi Jinping’s power from certain fields, most likely from the military first. Then he recovered a little bit, but decisions had been made. 

If you’re in a mafia family and the head don for some reason lost power for several days, different family heads made decisions that you then have to follow. Because even underground societies have rules. People will see if you keep your promise or follow the decision. That’s what also happened in the Chinese Communist Party. It’s the same thing. Once he loses part of his power, it’s very difficult to regain it, because a decision has been made. Most likely it’s a written decision. This is a possibility. 

I talked about the Standing Committee being all his chosen people. But once someone is in a position, they are assigned to different jobs. When someone is in a special position, their interests become more connected to their position than to Xi Jinping. For example, Mao Zedong, as the party leader, never got the chance to totally take over Zhou Enlai’s position because Zhou Enlai was the prime minister. 

In China’s system, the party leader takes care of the revolutionary ideology, while the prime minister takes care of the economy. That’s a conflict. Once you have this setting and different people in charge, they will conflict with each other, no matter how good buddies they were before. 

I’m pretty sure that in China today the same situation exists because Xi Jinping’s purpose is to return to Mao’s ideology. But Li Qiang, as prime minister, has to ensure the economy does not completely collapse, so it’s a conflict. Once you’re in this position, even if you are a friend or follower of Xi Jinping, you have your own interests. At the time when the crisis happened, someone inside helped bring the former leaders into the circle to make the decision. I think this is the case. 

Mr. Jekielek:

Okay. There is a rumor that Xi Jinping had a stroke. It’s not confirmed by the government, but we believe this is what happened. At that moment, other people looking for power swoop in and  take some of that control, but he doesn’t lose power entirely. At the same time, China’s economy is going through a crisis. The whole real estate sector is collapsing, and foreign direct investment is shutting down. Xi is probably being blamed for that because he has assumed a lot of power. On the other hand, the prime minister says that if we can’t keep the economy going, we’re going to lose the support of the people. Does that sound correct? 

Mr. He:

Yes, that’s why we can see the conflicting policies. From our side, we can see recently that the policy is really conflicting, because the prime minister is trying to get the investment back and trying to persuade the whole world that China is still doing reform and openness. But on the other side, they created some laws that tried to scare foreign investors. It’s a conflict. The purpose of the Chinese government and their policy is to keep the Communist Party in power, not to make life easier for the people. Every move is made to ensure the CCP is in power. All the conflict came from this.

Mr. Jekielek:

What are the different elements of the Chinese economy, and why is it in so much trouble?

Mr. He:

The main element is investment in infrastructure. Another one is exports.

Mr. Jekielek:

The investment in infrastructure is about these big projects to grow the GDP, but they are not necessarily used afterward.

Mr. He:

Right, like the high-speed train across the whole nation, the longest in the world. This type of investment is the most important economic driving force. Consumer spending has never been a big element, even during the best times of the reform. They don’t really care about that. Export is the next major element.

Mr. Jekielek:

But why is China not growing the consumer part of its economy?

Mr. He:

The system is designed this way. When Deng Xiaoping started the reform in the early 1980s, the purpose was to learn from other Asian countries. He said that anybody following the United States would get rich. It’s designed as the manufacturer of the world. They manufacture for the world, not for China.

Mr. Jekielek:

What do you mean by following the United States? You don’t mean copying them, do you? 

Mr. He:

No, trading with the United States. You trade with the world too, but your major trade partner is the United States. 

Mr. Jekielek:

The U.S. basically made China the manufacturing hub of the world.

Mr. He:

Yes, they call it the factory of the world. It’s designed this way. All the infrastructure, transportation, and everything else is designed for exports, not for the Chinese consumers.

Mr. Jekielek:

But what about all these apartment buildings they built for investment? Presumably, someone is supposed to live there one day.

Mr. He:

No. This is also designed to keep the government in power. Why is the government so fascinated about the buildings? Because they sell the land. This would never happen in other countries because the land is private. But in China, the CCP took over China and took over the land. The government owns the land. They sold the land to the developer, and then the developer builds and then sells to the end user. 

China’s housing is very expensive because half of the money goes to the government, so the government can get rich. It’s all designed this way. That’s why we have so many ghost cities in China. They didn’t really think someone would live there. They just sold the land and built the buildings.

Mr. Jekielek:

This is very hard for people to believe.

Mr. He:

Yes. Why are there so many coastal cities? They know there are no people who will live there, like the Xiongan New Area. Xiongan is Xi Jinping’s plan to make a sub-city for Beijing. The whole city was built up from the ground, and now nobody lives there. It’s been this way for so many years.

Mr. Jekielek:

But he already knew nobody would live there?

Mr. He:

In China, the decision-making is not based on research studies or real needs. It still keeps a very big portion of the planned economy, and a planned economy is based on the leader’s idea. Nobody knows where the idea comes from, but that’s the decision.

Mr. Jekielek:

Clearly, they liberalized some of the economy. But you’re suggesting that they’re actually going back to a more planned economy. What parts of the economy did they liberalize, and are they really going back to a more planned economy now?

Mr. He:

Yes. Because during the early stages of the reform, they had to withdraw the party’s power from the economic part and have less party interference with the economy. That’s why it developed really fast, especially the private sector. The private sector developed for 20 years and became bigger and bigger. Even though in China that’s not very normal, they still have connections with government power. Otherwise, you cannot get rich. Everybody knows that. But the private sector still has its interests. When they gain power, they want more political voice. That’s one reason. 

Another reason is that the reform is only a partial reform. They never got serious. Because China’s reform is only about the economy, never about the political system. In a socialist-planned economy, the political system is planned, but the market economy is basically a free market. That is a conflict.

In the world, there is no country that successfully combines them together. China is the only one. Therefore, you can see that socialist countries have all failed economically. China is the only exception. Now, Finland tried to follow China’s model. But if you don’t implement political reform, then the system conflicts with the economy.

That’s what happened in China. In early 2010, some leaders within the Chinese Communist Party realized that the reform was coming to an end. They wouldn’t have the power to continue because it conflicted with the system. They had to find a solution. The first person who tried to do that was Bo Xilai in Chongqing.

Mr. Jekielek:

 Bo Xilai was a leader who was being groomed to be the head of the CCP, who tried a coup against Xi Jinping, but ultimately got deposed.

Mr. He:

Yes, he used to be a minister of commerce and was then demoted to Chongqing as the head of the city. He initiated what was called the changhong dahei, singing revolutionary songs and trying to eliminate gangsters in the economic field. This was ideologically a return to the Mao Zedong era, economically limiting the power of the private sector. He was very popular at the time. 

Everybody was afraid he would become the leader of China. But, for some reason, he lost power in the power struggle, and Xi Jinping became the real leader. He was the challenger. Xi Jinping has a similar background to Bo Xilai. They both belonged to the princelings.

Mr. Jekielek:

Who are the princelings?

Mr. He:

They are the second generation of revolutionary leaders. Their fathers followed Mao Zedong’s revolution, so the princelings grew up during the Cultural Revolution. Basically, they are familiar with that time. Their golden era was before the Cultural Revolution.

Mr. Jekielek:

Before Deng, of course.

Mr. He:

Of course, before Deng. Xi Jinping basically followed Bo Xilai’s idea.

Mr. Jekielek:

Which is ironic because Bo Xilai was contending for his position. 

Mr. He:

Yes, their ideologies are the same. But the power struggle doesn’t mean an ideological struggle. It’s kind of different. I took over the power, but I can still go in this direction. This is what happened during that time. Since Xi Jinping’s time, we can clearly see an expansion of state business and state power, while reducing the private sector’s power and the market economy’s influence over the last 10 years. It’s very clear. That’s the way they try to resolve the conflict between the system and the economy. Xi Jinping’s approach is to go back to the Mao Zedong era.

Mr. Jekielek:

In this secret directive, one of the issues was returning capital outflows. Could you explain that? As I understand it, it’s punishable by death to take your assets overseas, even if you’re high-level.

Mr. He:

That’s right, especially for high-level officials. It means that party leaders at any rank should withdraw their assets back to China. This is a way to ensure that party leaders won’t challenge Xi Jinping. Not necessarily that Xi Jinping won’t challenge the party’s power. If a trade war, a tariff war, or even a hot war starts, it ensures that nobody becomes a traitor. That’s the purpose.

Mr. Jekielek:

Why are so many assets sent overseas?

Mr. He:

For safety. Everyone knows that private property in China is not guaranteed. They never abandon the ideology of communism, which means they can seize your assets and property at any time.

Mr. Jekielek:

For safety purposes, they put their assets in free countries.

Mr. He:

Yes. Even though most party leaders at any rank claim that communist socialism is better than capitalism, they still trust capitalism, so they put their money into foreign investments.

Mr. Jekielek:

But wasn’t that considered treason?

Mr. He:

Not at the time, because everyone was doing that. Now, they want to ensure that if the trade war worsens, you have to withdraw your assets. One purpose is to hit the United States, because if so many properties, assets, and even cash come back to China, then the U.S. will lose some money. Another purpose is to make party members loyal to the CCP. Because during a war, if you have assets in the United States, your interests are tied to the success of the U.S., not China.

Mr. Jekielek:

We talked about these three weapons: the United Front, the staffing or organization department, and the military being the third one. We haven’t talked about the military yet where there have been huge changes. The number two guy in the People’s Liberation Army [PLA] has just disappeared.

Mr. He:

Yes, he was demoted or removed and he just disappeared. Nothing states that he was demoted, purged, or arrested, he just disappeared. He was the vice chairman of the Central Military Commission. There are three chairmen in total: one chairman and two vice chairmen. The chairman is Xi Jinping. His name is still on record, but one of the vice chairmen has disappeared.

Mr. Jekielek:

That was He Weidong, correct?

Mr. He:

Yes, He Weidong has disappeared. Before him, another Central Military Commission member, Miao Hua, was demoted. Miao Hua and He Weidong came from the same military unit. They are similar, but both belong to Xi Jinping’s faction. Xi Jinping promoted many military generals. 

In his first term, he primarily tried to eliminate members loyal to previous leaders. In his second term, he aimed to place more of his people in the military. Now, in his third term, most military generals belong to his faction. He promoted them, especially Miao Hua. Miao Hua was the previous one who got purged, and he was in the military staff department, the organizing department. This means he placed all Xi Jinping’s people in different positions within the military. 

The fact that he was purged is very strange. He was definitely loyal to Xi Jinping. Otherwise, Xi Jinping wouldn’t have put him in such an important position. But now He Weidong is gone. They all belong to the same faction, also from Fujian. Xi Jinping’s faction is from Fujian, Zhejiang, and partially Shanghai. That’s his faction. 

I think the difference began last July during the third plenary session of the Communist Party Central Committee. Before that, Xi Jinping was purging others. But afterward, it seems like someone else is purging Xi Jinping’s faction. We see the purging of high-ranking military leaders, but it’s a little different before and after.

Mr. Jekielek:

China has a rapidly growing military. Many new ships are being built. There is gray zone activity happening around  the Philippines. On one hand, that’s happening. On the other hand, you’re telling me that Xi Jinping is losing his people in the military.

Mr. He:

Yes, that is very strange. Xi Jinping is not truly in charge of the military. He has no background in military career. When he took over power, he needed to reform the military. He did reform it in 2015, trying to completely change the military structure to follow the model of the United States Army. He changed everything. But it’s very difficult to change the Chinese military. I would call it the CCP military, because this military belongs to the party, not the state.

Mr. Jekielek:

That’s hard for many to imagine. It would be like the Republican or the Democratic Party having a military.

Mr. He:

Yes, it’s written in the Constitution. It’s the party’s army, not the state’s army. It was designed to protect the power of the CCP, not to protect the nation, so it’s different. This military is not designed to fight foreign wars. It’s designed to suppress internal rebellions or protests.

Mr. Jekielek:

But even today?

Mr. He:

Xi Jinping tried to change that. He aimed to reform the military to be structured in a way that would prepare it for potential conflicts, possibly with the United States, through Taiwan or in the South China Sea. That’s his design. The problem arises here. While expanding the military is not an issue—everyone benefits financially from it—once you actually enter into a war, that’s a completely different story. 

When Xi Jinping attempted to reform the entire army, he tried to see if he had enough military power to take over Taiwan. But he suddenly realized the military is not as strong as he expected. The first thing he found out is that the rocket unit is not functioning well.

Mr. Jekielek:

Sometimes it’s called the rocket force.

Mr. He:

Yes, the rocket force. The rocket force is not functioning as well as he expected. If he wants to invade Taiwan, he needs very strong non-conventional military power, so the rocket force is most important for him. But then he realized this rocket force is not prepared for war. It’s not ready for war. That’s the first thing he’s disappointed in with the military. Then he found out that the American Air Force think tank published detailed information about the rocket force.

Mr. Jekielek:

From public domain information, they claimed.

Mr. He:

But it’s not. I checked their references. They have everything referenced, but part of the references comes from their own research papers, and those old research papers still don’t have any source. That means they published those papers first and then quoted their own publication. That means they tried to hide their real sources. Those real sources can only come from the CCP or someone very high-ranking in the military, because any low-ranking military officials only know one small part. 

But this is huge. It’s the whole picture. It has to be that somebody leaked the information. That’s why Xi Jinping got really mad. Then we see the purge of the rocket force high-ranking officials one by one. That’s two main reasons. That’s a very big issue in the military. Then the military supply chain is also very easy to corrupt. The most corrupt part is this supply chain.

Mr. Jekielek:

I’m looking at this secret, leaked directive directive. Your analysis here is that the CCP is going for broke. But that’s when the possibility of war becomes very real. Is this being done through the tariffs? Is America now pushing the Chinese to go to war?

Mr. He:

War only happens in two situations. One is when the Chinese military is ready—both economically and militarily—to invade Taiwan. That’s one possibility. I don’t think it’s in the near future. In five years, they will be ready to fight, because they will consider the war not just against Taiwan, but against the United States, Japan, and Australia. I don’t think they are ready for that. 

But another possibility is when the CCP’s ruling power is in danger. They need to switch people’s focus to the outside, and they need the war to prove their legitimacy. That’s the only possibility. But I don’t think currently they are ready for that because they are still purging the military high-ranking leaders. 

If you remember, the Soviet Red Army, before World War II, started purging all the military leaders and high-ranking officials. At the beginning of World War II, during the invasion of Nazi Germany into the Soviet Union, they lost one million armed forces in the first month because nobody knew how to fight. Anyone who knew how to fight was purged or killed by Stalin. 

Now, China is purging those high-ranking military officials. How can they make war? I think it would be very difficult. Besides, if the CCP’s military is not ready, that war will accelerate the collapse of the CCP regime. Because if you cannot win the war, then you lose the support of the people and the support of the party itself.    

Mr. Jekielek:

What is the impact of this tariff approach that the Trump administration has imposed on China and related neighboring countries?

Mr. He:

Xi Jinping just visited three countries: Vietnam, Cambodia, and Malaysia.  I don’t think those countries are following China’s path to trade with the United States, especially Vietnam. I don’t think they can. In some fields, particularly in exports, they are competing with each other, not helping each other. It will not help China to gain support from those Southeast Asian countries. There’s no way. 

You can see Vietnam made lots of promises but never really kept them to the CCP. They try to keep promises to the United States and want zero tariffs with the United States, not China. So that’s China. They are trying to get zero tariffs as a way to fight the United States. Yesterday, they claimed they have a zero tariff policy for 45 less developed countries. 

The tariff impact is huge. Currently, of the three major driving forces for the Chinese economy, two have already failed. Consumer spending and infrastructure have totally failed. Now they have only one way to move the economy forward: exports. That’s the only way. But the tariffs will stop the major part of their export income. Without this money from the United States, their other projects are gone. 

For example, the Belt and Road Initiative is based on the idea that you invest money, but you most likely cannot get the investment back because those countries are not stable; their economies are not stable, their politics are not stable, and the whole environment is not stable. Therefore, they try to get money from the United States to invest in those Belt and Road projects. 

Once the money stops coming from the United States, then the Belt and Road and other projects, like BRICS, will also be based on China’s economy, not other factors. I don’t think those countries have ideology or any similarity, except that they want to gain some benefit from trade with China, so the CCP’s other projects will fail. 

For example, Panama just canceled the Belt and Road contract with China. Italy, I think, also canceled. Then the Belt and Road will shrink, and China’s influence in the world will shrink because mostly their influence is based on money to buy, especially in African countries. But that money comes from trade and exports, so this is a huge impact.

Also, more and more information is coming out from inside China. Businesses based on exports are all closing now. Many people won’t have jobs, and the whole society will be in a mess. That’s what the CCP is very afraid of, because so many people will be unemployed, and they cannot create jobs. For so many years, they have relied on exports. Their economy is not built on consumer spending. It’s not based on manufacturing something for people inside China to consume. You cannot change the whole structure overnight.

Mr. Jekielek:

That’s the problem. The White House has put up a new webpage on Covid origins, which changes the game in several ways and is very relevant to China. What are your thoughts on that?

Mr. He:

I was so surprised yesterday when I saw the new webpage. It’s a game changer, exactly. It’s a game changer because the United States government never really blamed China for the pandemic. For so many years, many governments tried to avoid blaming China for that. The only country that did that was Australia, and Australia got punished. 

It was like a small trade war. They banned a lot of Australian products from being imported into China. And now, this is the United States government’s formal stance. This is huge, especially since not only did the CCP fail to prevent the spread of the pandemic, but also the costs were man-made. This was not a natural disaster—this was a man-made disaster.

Mr. Jekielek:

At the very least, we know they had really shoddy practices at this lab that was experimenting with very problematic viruses.

Mr. He:

Yes, they were gain-of-function experiments. This webpage is directly aimed at ensuring the United States doesn’t let this go. It’s not something small that we can let go of. We still remember it. Even if the webpage didn’t mention it, lawsuits will be forthcoming. 

Mr. Jekielek:

There are people launching lawsuits to hold the Chinese regime accountable. Jamie Metzl just announced model legislation to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable. This is very much in line with what you’re saying.

Mr. He:

Yes, this is a whole new effort. It has something to do with the tariff war, even though it didn’t say so. This puts the United States in a high position, because every country is a victim of the pandemic. The lab leak is one accident, or maybe not, but nobody knows. China won’t allow anyone to conduct an investigation. 

The United Nations sent delegates to investigate, but with the conflict-of-interest person inside, you won’t get any truth. Even if you went to China, you won’t get any truth. The CCP is very good at destroying evidence. Still, the CCP is responsible for the cover-up because they spread misinformation inside China, and nobody knows what happened there. Everybody was unprepared for the pandemic. 

In fact, the CCP and Xi Jinping already knew exactly what happened in Wuhan, but they tried to hide it. That’s the reason it spread all over the world. That’s fully their responsibility. In terms of accountability, the cover-up is more important than the origin of the virus.

Mr. Jekielek:

The cover-up and the stopping of internal transportation while demanding international transportation. 

Mr. He:

International flights to other countries. Yes, that’s what happened.

Mr. Jekielek:

In fact, they protested when people wanted to stop them. There are many different dimensions here.

Mr. He:

Yes, that’s what happened. We can assume that was their intention. This is very important because the whole world hit the pause button for two years, and nobody took responsibility. This is not fair. 

Mr. Jekielek:

Some analysts have described today as the most dangerous time since World War II. What do you think?

Mr. He:

I think it’s the most important time since World War II. I wouldn’t say it’s dangerous; danger is always there. Concerning the trade war, the CCP started the trade war without declaring it.

Mr. Jekielek:

Do you mean a long time ago?

Mr. He:

Yes. The United States is fighting back only now. It’s not the United States that started the trade war or any other war. The tariff war is the same. China has tariff and non-tariff barriers, so the United States just fought back to make it equal, fair trade. The danger is always there. The important thing is that the United States realizes the situation and faces it. All the steps the United States takes are to recognize all the problems and try to solve them. This is a rewrite of the rules since World War II. 

Since World War II, especially since the 1970s, globalization has been the trend. But now we find it hard for the whole world to collaborate. It’s very difficult because it’s a totally different system, totally different ideas, and even totally different civilizations. The conflict actually prevents globalization. But now is the time to realize that. Also, the United States used to have a policy against the Soviet Union, to connect the CCP against the Soviet Union. That’s what happened in the early 1970s.

Mr. Jekielek:

They wanted to use China against the Soviet Union to leverage it.

Mr. He:

Yes, but after the 1990s, when the Soviet Union collapsed, supposedly the game should have changed, but I don’t think the United States made any changes. Then the CCP took advantage of globalization, especially when they joined the WTO. But they abused the WTO and this globalization. Now the United States realizes this is about state security. You cannot rely on someone that is trying to take over and destroy you. This is a fact that has been ignored for a long time.

Mr. Jekielek:

Heng He, it’s such a pleasure to have you on the show.

Mr. He:

It’s a pleasure to be here.

This interview was edited for clarity and brevity.