Take-out Chinese

Tomorrow, President Bush will meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao prior to this weekend's Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.  There are many items on President Bush's agenda, including the treatment of the Dalai Lama, but overt aggression does not appear to be one of them. 

Just this year, China has threatened to undermine the US economy, brazenly launched an anti-satellite weapon, and hacked into the Pentagon's email.  China is directly testing America's willingness to tolerate aggression and is showing no signs of stopping.  Whatever its purpose, China is becoming increasingly audacious in its foreign affairs. 

Furthermore, China is forging alliances with America's adversaries.  In recent years, China has signed dozens of agreements with Venezuela's reckless leader Hugo Chavez.  Additionally, China has been unreasonably hesitant to support strong sanctions against Iran.  Lastly, China continues to supply weapons to Sudan despite sanctions.

All of these detrimental actions are enabled by China's newfound wealth.  Just in June, China sported a $21 billion trade surplus with the US.  I have no doubt that President Bush will be stern in his meeting but he may not have the tools at his disposal to improve China's behavior. 

Therefore, I am starting my China Boycott 2007.  I'm not committing to never buying Chinese again but I am going to seek out alternatives to Chinese products before I buy.  US consumers have vaulted China to its current position and we can certainly reverse this.