Last week, America discovered that hackers tied to China’s People’s Liberation Army gained access to more than two dozen systems critical to this country’s national security. Perhaps now, the federal government will finally stop coddling the U.S. business leaders who help make these vulnerabilities a reality.
Business leaders treated Chinese President Xi Jinping like a pop star when he visited America last month. Corporate executives gathering to hear the dictator speak didn’t just give him one standing ovation — they stood and applauded three separate times . Most entertainers would dream of such a response, but Xi wasn’t there to entertain — he was there to woo corporate America.
The gathering included some of the most influential and powerful names in business, such as Apple CEO Tim Cook, Blackrock CEO Larry Fink, and Boeing Commercial Airplanes President Stanley Deal. Xi’s message was tailor-made to win over his corporate audience. “No matter how the international situation evolves, China’s resolve to foster a market-oriented, law-based, and world-class business environment will not change,” he told the crowd gathered in San Francisco.
The meeting hits home how eager America’s business elite are to work with our nation’s foremost enemy. It would have been unthinkable for corporate America to cheer on Nikita Khrushchev at the height of the Cold War, but business titans are doing the modern-day equivalent of that now without consequence.