The world order and the global economy are about to be upended as China’s customers realize they are being duped and undermined by Beijing. China has been cheating for years, by stealing intellectual property or cooking the books. But its double-dealing has become harmful to Western economies and societies and also involves diplomatic deception. In 2022, China promised the West, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, that it wouldn’t supply arms to Putin’s war, but this month NATO outed China as a “decisive enabler” that has been feeding the Russian war machine by furnishing it with tech, components, and equipment. And last fall, China’s President Xi Jinping promised President Joe Biden that his country would crack down on Chinese firms providing Mexican drug cartels with ingredients needed to make fentanyl. This month, a Congressional Committee uncovered evidence that Beijing has reneged on this too. Supplies continue to flow into Mexico and, worse, Chinese banks are also laundering cartel drug profits. China denies all allegations, but no one believes them and a cataclysmic divide looms.
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