In November, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed three executive orders against “China,” “CCP actors,” and “foreign adversary governments.” Why is such anti-China fearmongering really being pushed by the state of Texas? What effects are these orders likely to have on the people, politics and economy of Texas?
Protecting Texans from China, or kickstarting Cold War racist hysteria?
On paper, the three orders are supposed to protect Texas from harassment from the Communist Party of China, protect the financial investments of state institutions and protect state secrets held by Texas universities. In reality these executive orders are designed to ramp up the new cold war against China. Abbott is using ludicrous myths about dangerous Chinese infiltrators in Texas to demonize Chinese people and anyone who opposes the U.S. war drive against China, playing into the new era of McCarthyism.
The first order directs the Texas Department of Public Safety to work with federal law enforcement to identify “individuals who harass Texans on behalf of this hostile foreign adversary.” Abbott paints a paranoid, spy-thriller picture of Chinese agents repressing Chinese nationals, on Texas soil, through intimidation and blackmail. DPS is also ordered to find where foreign governments influence breaches the borders of Texas. The order finally creates a phone number for Texans to call and report suspicious behavior.
The second and third orders relate to Texas institutions’ relationships with China. They order these institutions, mainly universities, to divest entirely from any Chinese institution and to cease any future investments. Abbott claims this is needed to “harden” the state of Texas, protecting it from “foreign adversary governments.”
The first order has the most immediate implications for stoking anti-Asian racism. It portrays Chinese people in Texas as potentially dangerous spies to be distrusted. Encouraging people to report anything they view as “suspicious,” after making the ridiculous accusation that there are Chinese agents of repression roaming Texas, will only lead to hostility and suspicion. The rise in anti-Asian hate crimes in recent years can be tied to this kind of rhetoric.
The other two orders are designed to isolate Texas institutions from any Chinese economic ties. GA-48 directs the state to “prohibit higher education faculty and employees from participating in any foreign recruitment program by a foreign adversary nation.” This means that public universities will be unable to hold cultural exchange programs with Chinese education institutions.
Chinese and Chinese-American academics are facing greater hostility. Many have even been accused wrongly of spying in recent years as the U.S. anti-China rhetoric heats up. GA-48 plays into that culture of fear and, by cutting off avenues for cooperation, could hasten the declining position of American academic institutions.
In addition, these powers could be weaponized against domestic dissent. In recent years both Democrats and Republicans have increasingly blamed domestic discontent caused by poverty, racism, and worsening conditions on foreign influence. This is an easy way to avoid criticism, demonizing the messenger without considering the message.
U.S. imperialism, not China, is the threat to peace and stability
The orders repeatedly use the words “hostile foreign adversary”, as if it is China that has been acting aggressively towards the United States. This is a complete reversal of reality. China has not been involved in a war in over forty years, in stark contrast to the United States, which is engaged in wars, genocides, and occupations on multiple continents right now.
China is not a security threat to the average American, nor is China responsible for the economic precarity of U.S. workers. Instead, it is American corporations who have made the decision to maximize profits at everyone’s expense. China’s willingness to cooperate with the rest of the world on level economic footing only threatens American capitalism because American capitalists engage in a zero-sum, winner-takes-all game. This is why Greg Abbot and the rest of the ruling class are waging this Anti-China fear-mongering campaign and trying to force economic decoupling: to manufacture consent for economic aggression and war, and to provide cover for racist, McCarthyist witch hunts.
