As America begins to reopen to a brave new post-Wuhan coronavirus world, one overarching question concerns our strategy for dealing with China. Despite the communist nation’s lies and aggressive propaganda campaign, the world is coming to realize that China’s self-interest is not concerned with the common good. It’s all about the projection of power for the regime of Xi Jinping, and as America continues to deal with the fallout of this most unwelcome Chinese import, the ChiCom regime is working hard to expand its sphere of influence.

Writing at the foreign-policy-focused AND magazine, former diplomat Grant Newsham agreed the Chinese may be stirring for a fight, if only to save face after the coronavirus nightmare. “When the only country that can stop China is in self-quarantine and its economy shuddering to a stop, and in political turmoil with a difficult election coming up,” writes Newsham, “one might fairly say America is distracted.”

Newsham notes that the domestic challenges in China are significant thanks to the world’s economic shutdown drying up its lucrative export market, and he wonders whether civil unrest might be on the horizon in a nation whose interior security spending dwarfs its defense budget. Recall that in the weeks before COVID19 seized the world’s attention, the Chinese surveillance state had been trying to sweep pro-democracy dissent under the rug in Hong Kong.

While the Hong Kong protests were pushed out of the public consciousness, the Wuhan virus also exposed a second unsavory aspect of Chinese society: its overt racism toward African guest workers and alleged violent mistreatment of its own Uyghur minority. The world was shocked to learn about a McDonald’s restaurant in Guangzhou posting a sign that barred blacks from entering, as the African immigrant population was made a scapegoat for the spread of the virus. Even with a nearly homogenous population — well over 90% of Chinese are Han, making theirs the world’s largest ethnic group — the Chinese stratify themselves between wealthy urban dwellers and poor rural “deplorables.”

Yet nearly a half-century after President Richard Nixon pried open the doors to the formerly cloistered communist regime with his 1972 visit, the hoped-for modernization of China has developed in a schizophrenic fashion: Americans and other consumers around the globe took advantage of China’s willingness to exploit its workforce to make every imaginable manufactured good, but this economic revolution failed to soften China’s communist authoritarianism.

While the living standards for most of China’s billion-plus subjects have increased, those who enjoy the largest portion of this newfound wealth must be careful to toe the government line. In a PBS NewsHour report on China last year, correspondent Katrina Yu admitted, “China’s ultra-wealthy must closely align themselves with the government. Jack Ma, a tech tycoon with an estimated $40 billion fortune, is a member of the communist party. Movie star Jackie Chan routinely defends Beijing, and attacks international critics. … The Hong Kong resident described pro-democracy protests in the city as ‘sad and depressing,’ and called himself a protector of the Chinese flag.”

That may come to a screeching halt if the American public has its way, though. According to a recent poll, fully seven out of 10 Americans, angered by the effects of the Chinese coronavirus, are supportive of anything from a trade slowdown to washing their hands of China entirely. “A lot of Americans were concerned about the communist regime before it turned humanity upside down,” writes columnist Tony Perkins. “Now, with economies tanking and families grieving, a majority of the country thinks it’s time to throw down the gauntlet. And trade is a good place to start.”

The Trump administration was already in the process of reworking our trade agreements with China, but getting the remainder of the world on board may now be easier thanks to the ChiComs’ gross mismanagement of a pandemic they could have contained.