A recent picture worth a thousand words shows the ski jump for the Winter Olympics directly in front of the remnants of an old steel mill from 1919. The tiny speck of glamour surrounded by century-old decadence and ruin is perhaps a perfect depiction of China today: divided between the bright and rosy, even democratic society that the Communist Party of China wants to project, and the evil, dirty, hypocritical truth underneath. As people who are conscious of the truth, we here in America can take important and necessary steps against China.

In recent years, China has cracked down heavily on civil dissent. Doctors such as Li Wenliang, who first discovered and reported the coronavirus in Wuhan, have been silenced. Newspapers and organizations in Hong Kong, such as Apple Daily and Demosisto have been forced to shut down in order to comply with new censorship laws while sweeping changes to the territory’s government drastically reduced the power of pro-democracy legislators in the region. 

Even more concerning are the re-education camps set up in the Xinjiang region for Muslim Uyghurs amid an already tense political climate. Ostensibly to prevent separatism and Islamist militancy, the camps have resulted in the indefinite, involuntary detention of over 1 million Uyghurs, many of whom are alleged to have been subject to forced labor and sterilization according to the British Broadcasting Corporation. 

Although the diplomatic boycott by the Biden administration during the Olympics was a step in the right direction, it is clear that China will still carry on with its heinous actions. Those in free countries, especially the U.S., need to and can take greater action against China’s human rights abuses. 

Firstly, the American government should be more open to resettling in its territory those who seek political refuge from authoritarianism, such as those from Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, China and Afghanistan. 

It should additionally increase military and political cooperation with other countries focused on stopping authoritarianism, most notably the Quad (Australia, Japan, India, and the US) and non-NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) allies. That includes giving everything short of a blank check to the Ukrainian Armed Forces and government, which are locked in a battle for survival against Russia. A victory for Ukraine will mean a check against China’s authoritarian partner, Russia and a triumph for democratic principles. 

Meanwhile, American citizens need to prevent the proliferation of and destabilizing actions by anti-democratic forces in their own countries. Extremist expressions of speech should be permitted but limited when it threatens violence or leads to it, while those who are opposed to the extension of suffrage and support grave breaches of the balance of power equally need to be voted out. The only way democracy can survive is if it shows its combined strength and endurance in opposition to the other systems that threaten it. 

Such a show of strength can happen if the free world stands united. In the contest of ideas that once again embodies our century, we have to rise to the challenge, for there is no one now that will speak up for those who cannot voice their opinions except us. 

To some extent, this is already happening in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine; protesters have amassed in cities across the world to support the beleaguered country, including in Russia and China itself, while world governments are taking unprecedented steps to ensure Vladimir Putin suffers the consequences for breaking 77 years of peace in Europe. Formerly “neutral” or non-aligned countries, like Finland or Sweden, may very well be more open to joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a trans-Atlantic military alliance of democracies led by the United States, while there is mounting pressure to fast-track Ukraine’s entry into the European Union. Even Germany, with its early 20th-century past, has embarked on a record increase in defense spending to respond to Russia’s actions. Volunteers in countries like Poland or Moldova are helping out Ukrainian refugees at their border crossings, or even going into the country to fight. 

Former French President and leader of the Free French Forces, General Charles de Gaulle, once said: “let us be firm, pure, and faithful; at the end of our sorrow, there is the greatest glory of the world, that of the men who did not give in.” 

We can never give in.