The woke Left loves to contend that “silence is violence” in its effort to bully individuals into advocating for “social justice” causes. However, setting aside the obvious inherent contradiction in such a statement (inaction is not action), the most deafening silence regarding China’s repeated instances of injustice and civil rights abuses comes from leftists in positions of power. But why? Haven’t leftists built their entire ideological brand on the platform of grievance politics, supposedly fighting against social injustice?

When it comes to silence on China, there’s a simple answer: Money talks. Or rather, it shuts people up. Following the money to find answers is as old as politics itself, and in this case it’s no different. But China not only buys silence; it also pays to discredit its critics.

Washington Times columnist Rowan Scarborough observes: “Washington is awash in Chinese money. One of the first places Hunter Biden went hunting for cash once his dad became vice president was China. Six trips, one on Joe’s official jet. Read the Grassley-Johnson report on Hunter’s windfalls.” Scarborough further notes, “This China-America money nexus helps explain why virtually no Democrat has criticized China for leaking a deadly virus to the world and then repeatedly lying about it.”

Former high-profile Democrats such as Bill Clinton’s secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, formed the consulting firm Stonebridge Group, whose number-one client is China. The firm says its objective is “raising positive profile and investor interest in China.” Another is former Montana Democrat Senator and former U.S. ambassador to China Max Baucus, who formed the Baucus Group. Some of its top clients are Chinese businesses. It was Baucus who in 2020 pushed against the Wuhan lab leak theory, saying it “makes no sense.” Then there’s billionaire former New York City Mayor and Democrat presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg, who has extensive ties to China’s financial markets. During his presidential campaign, Bloomberg said that Chinese President Xi Jinping “is not a dictator.”

China also has significant ties to Silicon Valley and Big Tech companies like Apple, which shelled out $8.7 million in campaign donations in 2020. Three of the top recipients were Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and the Democratic National Committee.

And let’s not overlook the biggest elephant in the room, Biden himself, who on his trip to China as vice president in 2011 told communist leaders, “In order to cement this robust partnership, we have to go beyond close ties between Washington and Beijing, which we’re working on every day, go beyond it to include all levels of government, to beyond it to include classrooms and laboratories, athletic fields and boardrooms.”

Finally, there’s the statement last November from professor and think-tank director Di Dongsheng, who boasted of China’s powerful Washington connections: “I’m going to throw out something maybe a little bit explosive here. It’s just because we have people at the top. We have our old friends who are at the top of America’s core inner circle of power and influence. We have our old friends. There’s nothing that dollars can’t handle … If I can’t do it with one stack of dollars, I’ll do it with two.” He further asserted that with Trump’s loss, Biden will bring back “the traditional elite, the political elite, the establishment.”