Morality: For All or For None.

We should be re-evaluating our relationship with China, far beyond the question of one laboratory.

The Biden Regime has decided to cut off all funding to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, years after Democrats spent an election season labeling as racist anyone who pointed to that lab as a possible source of outbreak. The Chinese government’s refusal to cooperate with U.S. investigators caused the funding to finally come to an end. But it seems prudent to ask, what about the other labs in China? Are we still to continue funding them, with the expectation of safety and transparency? What about medical research in China, which we fund, and which takes place under the primary supervision and auspices of the Chinese government?

This latest incident in which they refused to cooperate with investigators shows that they’re untrustworthy and unconcerned by U.S. requests, but worse than that is the truth that they’re simply not moral at all — and we (as a collective) don’t care. We’re no longer moral enough to care. There was a time when trade with China was limited because we recognized the immorality of that government and sought to pressure a change in their policies. We no longer do even this, when the egregious human rights violations are undeniable.

We know of how they treat Christians, including destroying churches, outlawing speaking to children about the Faith, and causing preachers to disappear. They have no concept or understanding of natural law principles, upon which Western nations are based. China is a country that has no respect for the notion of free speech, which tramples upon the right of the free exercise of religion with wanton indifference, and which punishes the aforementioned activities with multi-generational penalties. For example, parents who are critical of the regime will not be able to get their students into better schools, nor will they have freedom of travel. The size of the country and the mass of people are not prohibitive of these intrusions into the everyday lives of citizens, for automated processes are used to give those individuals numbers, with which they are tracked and given “social credit scores” denoting their obedience to the state. In larger cities, facial recognition systems combine with this setup to ensure that every action by citizens is watched and counted by the all-seeing government.

We further know that they engage in forced organ harvesting of their prisoners — an act of evil that’s difficult to even imagine. Despite all of it, we act as if nothing is awry. The question is only whether American tax money will continue to support one lab. We turn a blind eye to the rest.

The issue is that we no longer do moral evaluations. That’s just so far outside the modern understanding of priority. It’s all economic now. People will, not without cause, fear what would happen if we did reinstitute tariffs or cease doing business with China outright. That’s understandable. I just struggle to put toasters above human lives. Yes, I’m being somewhat hyperbolic, but only partly. So much of our industry has been moved there, and bringing it back (or at least relocating it to less despotic regimes) would be no small feat. Yet, if we refuse to do so, what are we saying?

How much industry are our souls worth? The allegations about China’s abusive behaviors are not mere speculations. These are known facts. It’s so heinous that we don’t want to think about it, but if you do really reflect on what is happening, it becomes clear what we’re weighing. Dostoevsky asked if we would be willing to build a utopia if the cost was the slaughter of one innocent child. I shudder at what seems to be our collective answer.

In contrast, Charlemagne was known for befriending rulers of foreign nations in order to better the lives of the faithful within those borders. His focus was on defending the faithful, even in foreign realms. The chief aim of that mindset is so disparate from what we see today, wherein the victims of evil regimes are an afterthought to the concerns of industry. It’s an entirely different worldview. While many may sneer at those of antiquity for their frequent acts of conquest, those of the past wouldn’t be unjustified if they derided us for turning away while human beings were turned into commodities for organ production and extraction.

The act of stopping funding for a single lab is merely a heart-rending reminder of just how little is being done about a country whose system of values is monstrous. We are seemingly expected to applaud this overtly political maneuver, done long after it could be impactful. Those political and religious prisoners in China certainly won’t be giving an ovation.

The fundamental problem is that we no longer have a moral society ourselves, so most fail to exercise righteous judgment by condemning evil and refusing to be party to it. As such, we won’t be far behind the atrocities of China, because already we struggle to delineate ourselves and assert higher ideals.