By Jonathan Froehlich, Second Place winner of the 2024 Human Rights Essay Contest – Graduate Division
Knowingly or not, anyone who has played the game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” has had a lesson in U.S./China diplomacy. The premise of the game is that actor Kevin Bacon can be connected to nearly any other performer in six “moves” or fewer, with a move being a film or television show and an actor/actress appearing in it. For instance, if the challenge is Helen Mirren, the solution might be Helen Mirren to Harrison Ford in 1923, Harrison Ford to Carrie Fisher in Star Wars, Carrie Fisher to John Belushi in The Blues Brothers, and John Belushi to Kevin Bacon in Animal House.
But what does this have to do with U.S./China relations or the protection of American democracy from undue influence by China’s communist regime? While there are several ways China could damage or impugn America’s system of government, two of the most likely methods are the use of disinformation to sow socio-political division and usurping U.S. governmental functions and authorities to undermine public confidence. Without a balanced approach to U.S./China relations to defend against it, America and its democracy are at serious risk for interference by the Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC).
Will China attempt to disrupt and de-legitimize American governmental functions no matter what President Trump does? Certainly yes. But the inevitability of interference does not mean we have to make China’s job easier through poorly conceptualized and clumsily executed diplomacy, not to mention other policy decisions, including but not limited to Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts, which create avenues for Chinese meddling in American affairs and opportunities for the PRC to exploit American weaknesses for its own benefit. Righting the ship depends on President Trump understanding that everything he does, no matter how seemingly unrelated, impacts U.S. relations with China, and, in turn, the health of American democracy.
As such, were I the Secretary of State, I would impress upon the President the point that China is at or near the center of every policy determination made by the White House. I would attempt to convince the President that China is the “Kevin Bacon” of American international relations and should thus be viewed as never being more than just a few degrees removed from presidential decision-making. If we examine several decisions President Trump has made in his first 100 days, especially those actioned by Elon Musk’s proverbial chainsaw, we see corresponding opportunities for China to bolster and further assert its own dominance, potentially threatening American democracy in the process.
Disinformation to Sow Division in America
Cyber Security
Per the Associated Press, “The Trump administration has cut millions of dollars in federal funding from two cybersecurity initiatives…The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency [CISA] has ended about $10 million in annual funding to the nonprofit Center for Internet Security.” And according to the 2025 Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community, “The PRC remains the most active and persistent cyber threat to U.S. government, private-sector, and critical infrastructure networks.” With such assertions in mind, making cuts to cyber defense agencies only emboldens China as it seeks to gain access to U.S. information/systems, and potentially using that access to spread misinformation in hopes of sowing division among Americans, thereby placing U.S. democracy at risk of incursion by Communist Chinese forces.
Aviation Security
Trump cuts to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are similarly concerning. The responsibility for regulating drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in U.S. airspace falls under FAA authority, and cuts to the agency arguably give China an opening to collect U.S. information using UAVs, information which could again be used to spread falsehoods in America, potentially imperiling U.S. democracy.
Usurping U.S. Governmental Authorities/Functions and Undermining Credibility
U.S. Food and Agriculture
According to several media outlets, under White House direction, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is slashing its budget, including cutting two federal programs that provided about $1 billion in funding to schools and food banks to buy food directly from local farms, ranchers and producers. And per separate reporting, farmland and food processing company purchases made by the Chinese government and corporations over the last four decades could give the PRC at least some control over U.S. assets or information related to American food growth, production, distribution, and sale.
While the Trump administration is making cuts to the agency which oversees farming and food production, including programs which feed American children, China is swallowing up American farmland and food processing facilities, potentially putting the PRC in a position to gain inside access to one of the United States’ most critical infrastructure sectors. More broadly, China’s involvement in U.S. agriculture and food bolsters the PRC’s place in U.S. society, which can hardly be a good thing for American democracy. And picture a scenario in which China refills the food banks emptied by the Trump White House and steps in to feed American school children through programs defunded by DOGE and the White House. Such a development would almost certainly prompt some Americans to question the fundamental efficacy of their own government, something the U.S. democratic system can tolerate only in limited doses.
Public Health and Medical Research
According to various 2025 media reports, the Trump administration’s effort to slash the size of the federal workforce recently reached the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), resulting in the dismissal of employees of an agency responsible for reviewing the safety of food ingredients, medical devices, and new medications.
Conversely, according to Invesco, since 2024, China has been “ramping up policy support for innovative drugs,” even going so far as formulating a plan to provide government subsidies for research & development related to new drugs and devices. And per Clinical Trials Arena, “China has seen a rise in ongoing clinical trials for the past few years which has now surpassed the US, according to GlobalData analysis.”
While the U.S. and the Trump administration seem to be retreating in the public health arena, including on drug development and disease research, China is advancing, thus availing itself of a growing opportunity to outpace the U.S. and erode public confidence in American democracy.
Messaging Matters
When it comes to advising President Trump, the “how” can be just as important as the “what.” Those on either side of the Trump divide clearly have different opinions about the President conducts himself, with assessments of his disdain for convention ranging widely from “a breath of fresh air” to “a Constitutional crisis.” Nevertheless, saying that Trump does not take advice in the same way as many other White House incumbents would likely raise very few eyebrows in either camp.
In 2018, following his dismissal of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Trump was reportedly “newly emboldened to say what he really feels and to ignore the cautions of those around him,” having “settled into the job” and of being president and trusting his own instincts more than his advisers.
This is not to say that Trump is the first or only U.S. President with a desire to be told what he wants to hear. The vilification of those with alternate viewpoints by members of JFK’s inner circle was partly to blame for the Bay of Pigs fiasco and, in the wake of 9/11, George W. Bush pushed advisors to find a link between the attacks and Saddam Hussein to help justify the Iraq War. But by many accounts, Trump values loyalty and agreement, sometimes bordering on fealty, more than his predecessors. And if his confidence was as high as reported during his first term, it can only be more elevated during his second, arguably making it even less likely that he will be beholden to advisors. This dynamic must be factored into not only what advice is offered to the President, but also how it is communicated.
Though not a comprehensive approach, a successful relationship with China means showing strength, either in the ability to respond to threats or having the resources to provide aid when needed. Luckily, projecting strength is one of Trump’s most famed and oft relied upon political tenets. During his second inauguration address, he declared “America will be respected again and admired again…We will be proud. We will be strong, and we will win like never before. We will not be conquered. We will not be intimidated.” And his approach to China has thus far been no exception. Though the effectiveness of Trump’s decision-making on tariffs aimed at the PRC can of course be debated, there is little question that the tariffs are an attempt to demonstrate strength.
If advice on U.S./China relations, and how even seemingly unrelated decision-making affects the security of American democracy, is delivered to Trump in a way which aligns with his presidential persona – one which reflects his natural proclivity for being perceived as the most dominant person in the room – the more likely it is to be openly received and effectively actioned. But, all told, President Trump must come to appreciate the connection between his decisions on China and the survival of American democracy and recognize China as the “Kevin Bacon” of U.S. diplomacy, which means understanding that all policy roads eventually lead to President Xi Jinping and the more than 1.4 billion people of the PRC, usually in six moves or fewer.