U.S. Policy Must Require China To Tear Down Its Great Firewall

Like all totalitarian governments, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) can survive only by the suppression of truth and free speech. To that end, the CCP exerts tight control over the flow of information on the Internet in China through the use Internet firewalls. As the U.S. seeks to challenge Chinese dominance, breaking through these firewalls will be of critical importance.

China’s firewall is extensive and sophisticated, blocking not only website content, but engaging in monitoring individuals’ Internet access and web history. China also uses its Internet to spread lies, and to engage in ideological warfare and oppressive censorship. China has weaponized its Internet into a system of mass surveillance, effectively turning it into a repressive information and mind control system.

As the U.S. coalesces around a more robust response to China, confronting their Internet firewall must place a key role. The Secretary of State should use his authority, granted to him by Congress in Sec. 7050 of the State Department’s appropriations act, to partner with the private sector to develop technologies and initiatives aimed at cracking China’s firewall.

The U.S. should also seek to leverage our trade relationship with China to require a freer and more transparent Internet.

China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” has made clear China’s ambitions for control of its people, as well as its intent to undermine the existing liberal international order. We call on Secretary Pompeo to immediately initiate a high priority initiative to rapidly shatter closed society firewalls. We share the view of the late Sen. Tom Coburn that there is “no action the president or Congress can take that can more powerfully, or in a more peaceful fashion, advance global freedom and American national interests.”

The Honorable Edwin Meese III
Attorney General
President Ronald Reagan (1985-1988)
Alfred S. Regnery
Chairman, Conservative Action Project
Chairman, Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund
Herman Pirchner, Jr.
Founding President
American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC)
Myron Ebell
Director, Center for Energy and Environment
Competitive Enterprise Institute
The Honorable Morton C. Blackwell
President
The Leadership Institute
The Honorable Colin A. Hanna
President
Let Freedom Ring, Inc.
L. Brent Bozell, III
Founder and President
Media Research Center
The Honorable J. Kenneth Blackwell
Chairman
Constitutional Congress, Inc.
The Honorable Jim DeMint
Chairman, Conservative Partnership Institute
Member, US Senate (SC 2005-2013)
Ed Corrigan
Vice Chairman, Conservative Action Project
President, Conservative Partnership Institute
Rachel Bovard
Senior Director of Policy
Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI)
Jenny Beth Martin
Chairman
Tea Party Patriots Citizen Fund
Christopher Malagisi
Executive Director of Outreach
Hillsdale College
Kelly J. Shackelford, Esq.
Chairman, CNP Action, Inc.
President and CEO, First Liberty Institute
Mary Vought
Executive Director
Senate Conservatives Fund
William L. Walton
President
Council for National Policy
Ginni Thomas
President
Liberty Consulting, Inc.
The Honorable Becky Norton Dunlop
White House Advisor
President Ronald Reagan (1981-1985)
Cleta Mitchell, Esq.
Partner
Foley & Lardner LLP
The Honorable Donald Paul Hodel
U.S. Secretary of Energy (1982-1985)
U.S. Secretary of Interior (1985-1989)
The Honorable Tony Perkins
President
Family Research Council
The Honorable David McIntosh
U.S. House of Representatives
Former Member, Indiana
The Honorable Bob McEwen
U.S. House of Representatives
Former Member, Ohio
The Honorable T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr.
Chief Domestic Advisor
President Ronald Reagan (1987-1988)
Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin (Ret.)
Executive Vice President
Family Research Council
Dr. Mark A. Smith
President
Columbia International University
The Honorable Peter Thomas
Chairman
The Conservative Caucus
Ron Robinson
President
Young America’s Foundation
Dr. Richard Rounsavelle
Trustee
Media Research Center
The Honorable James C. Miller III
Budget Director for President Reagan, 1985-1988
The Honorable Charles J. Cooper
Assistant Attorney General, President Ronald Reagan
Cooper & Kirk, PLLC
Justin Danhof
General Counsel
National Center for Public Policy Research
Tim LeFever
Chairman
Capitol Resource Institute
The Honorable Gary L. Bauer
President
American Values
Floyd Brown
Publisher
The Western Journal
Charlie Copeland
President
Intercollegiate Studies Institute
E.W. Jackson Sr.
President
STAND Foundation Inc.
Rod D. Martin
Founder & CEO
The Martin Organization, Inc.
Sherri R. Martin
Executive Vice President
The Martin Organization, Inc.
Haley E. Martin
President
The Martin Foundation
Christina Murphy Lusk
Campaign for the American Future
Guillermo J. Aragon
Chief Financial Officer
Martin Imaging, Inc.
Benjamin Nieuwsma
Founder and CEO
Navigo
Shawn A. Mitchell
Former National Chaplain
National Federation of Republican Assemblies
Eunie Smith
President
Eagle Forum
Lewis K. Uhler
Founder and President
National Tax Limitation Committee
Chad Connelly
President
Faith Wins
Paavo Ensio
Chairman
Universal Minerals Group
Richard Wright
Owner
R & S LLC
Matthew Tyrmand
Principal
Matthew Tyrmand LLC
Ron Pearson
Executive Director
Conservative Victory Fund
Rebecca Hagelin
CEO
United in Purpose
Allen Hebert
Chairman
American-Chinese Fellowship of Houston
Daniel Perrin
Founder
HSA Coalition
Robert Keith Fischer
Meeting Coordinator
Conservatives of Faith
Marc Little
Chair
Center for Urban Renewal and Education
Lori Roman
President
American Constitutional Rights Union
The Honorable Mike Hill
Representative
Florida State House
The Honorable Diana Denman
President
The Reagan Legacy Forum
William Shaker
CEO
Washington Marketing Group
Glenn P. Story
Co-Founder & President
Patriot Mobile
Robert D. Thompson
Former Administrator
The Weyrich Lunch (1999-2016)
Joseph A. Morris
Partner at Morris & De La Rosa
Former Assistant U.S. Attorney General (Reagan)
Jay Mount
President
MDS Communications Corporation
Elaine Donnelly
President
Center for Military Readiness
Richard Manning
President
Americans for Limited Government
Joan Holt Lindsey
President
Lindsey Communications
Kent Glesener
President
Paradigm Construction & Engineering Inc
Kevin Freeman
Founder
NSIC Institute
Malcolm Morris
Bob Carlstrom
President
AMAC Action
Lee Beaman
CEO
Beaman Automotive Group
Eaton Hopkins
President
Liberty Surgical, Inc.
Dr. Seymour Fein
Managing Partner
CNF Pharma, LLC
Gerard Kassar
State Chairman
NYS Conservative Party
Kay R. Daly
President
Coalition for a Fair Judiciary
Steve Berger
Pastor
Grace Chapel
James L. Martin
Founder/Chairman
60 Plus Association
Saulius Anuzis
President
60 Plus Association
The Honorable Penny Pullen
Former Illinois State Legislator
Illinois General Assembly
Randy M. Long
Founder
Long Business Advisors, LLC
Dr. Paige Patterson
President
Sandy Creek Foundation
Mario Navarro da Costa
Director, Washington Bureau
Tradition, Family, Property
Roxanne Phillips
Member, Executive Committee
Council for National Policy
Amapola Hansberger
President
Legal Immigrants for America
Ambassador Henry F. Cooper
President Reagan’s Defense and Space Negotiator
Former SDI Director
Jeremy Cerone
Chairman, William F. Buckley Jr. Council
Council for National Policy
Kathleen Patten
President & CEO
American Target Advertising
Melissa Kaye Ortiz
Blogger/Administrator
DCBelleonWheels.com
Debbie Georgatos
Host, America Can We Talk
CWT Publications, LLC
Steven Ertelt
Editor
LifeNews.com
Gregory Quinlan
Founder & President
Center for Garden State Families
Michael Horowitz
CEO
21st Century Initiatives
The Honorable George K. Rasley Jr.
Managing Editor
ConservativeHQ.com
Dr. Jerome R. Corsi, Ph.D.
Founder and CEO
CorsiNation.com
Andresen Blom
President
Hawaiian Values
Sean Noble
President
American Encore
J. Christian Adams
President
Public Interest Legal Foundation
Paul Gessing
President
Rio Grande Foundation
Eli Lehrer
President
The R Street Institute
C. Preston Noell III
President
Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.
Barry Meguiar
President
Ignite America
Caroline Lewis
Owner
Percipio Communications
Rob Chambers
Vice President
AFA Action
Sandy Rios
Director of Governmental Affairs
AFA
Charlie Gerow
Vice Chairman
American Conservative Union
Tim Wildmon
President
American Family Association
Jake Hoffman
President & CEO
Rally Forge
Tom DeWeese
President
American Policy Center
Seton Motley
President
Less Government
Mario H. Lopez
President
Hispanic Leadership Fund

All organizations listed for IDENTIFICATION purposes only.