By Raleigh Adams, First Place winner of the 2024 Human Rights Essay Contest – Graduate Division
I. Introduction
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) poses a uniquely grave threat to American democracy.1 Beyond geopolitical rivalry, its influence strikes at the moral and cultural foundations of our society: the dignity of the human person, the integrity of civic institutions, and the preservation of the common good. Confronting this challenge demands more than procedural fixes; it requires defending the moral and spiritual ecology that sustains democratic life — an ecology rooted in the American commitment to liberty and self-government and, for many, enriched by Catholic social teaching.2
The CCP openly pursues an ideological project of authoritarian control and suppression of transcendent truths. Its use of “sharp power” — the weaponization of openness and trust — represents one of the most insidious threats to free societies. Unlike soft power, which seeks to persuade and attract, sharp power aims to penetrate and distort, undermining a society’s moral and informational foundations from within. Through disinformation campaigns, economic entanglements, and the co-option of academic, business, and cultural elites, the CCP subtly reshapes public discourse to serve its interests. It infiltrates universities and think tanks to foster cynicism and erode confidence in objective truth.3 Meanwhile, local communities — the bedrock of moral formation and civic virtue — are weakened by dependencies and narratives designed to undermine solidarity and trust.4 In this way, CCP influence corrodes not only institutions but also the very conditions that sustain freedom and authentic community.
This is not an abstract threat. The CCP’s model advances surveillance, ideological conformity, and suppression of conscience, directly undermining the belief in human dignity and freedom central to both American democracy and Catholic moral vision. Americans should care because such influence weakens debate, civic responsibility, and institutional integrity, threatening to hollow out democratic culture and replace persuasion with coercion. Catholics, and indeed all people of faith, should care because the CCP stands in direct opposition to any vision of human flourishing rooted in freedom and truth. The CCP persecutes believers, silences dissent, and reduces persons to instruments of state power, contradicting the conviction — articulated in documents like Gaudium et Spes and Dignitatis Humanae — that each person is made for truth and community. Resisting this influence is not merely strategic but a necessary moral imperative.
II. Policy Suggestions
At the center of our response must be an affirmation of human dignity. 5 Every individual possesses inherent worth and freedom, endowed with the capacity to seek truth and build authentic community. Free societies exist precisely to protect this dignity, allowing citizens to live according to their deepest convictions. Democracy is not merely a system of procedures; it depends on a virtuous citizenry oriented toward the common good.6 Without this moral foundation, democratic structures become fragile and susceptible to corruption.
To safeguard democracy, we must strengthen transparency and accountability. This means rigorously enforcing the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and empowering local oversight, such as local educational boards, community-level foreign influence audits, or partnerships with specific civic institutions.7 Realistically, this may look like an expansion of the DOJ’s FARA enforcement units, and annual reporting to ensure communities and institutions become vigilant guardians of civic integrity. Public disclosure of foreign funding in academia and business enables informed, morally responsible decisions and restores trust. By shedding
light on hidden relationships, we protect our public life from quiet erosion. Furthermore, fostering a culture of truth through media literacy and moral formation is essential.8 In an age of disinformation, reaffirming objective reality and moral discernment — central to both American civic tradition and Catholic moral thought — becomes a shared imperative.
Universities must be defended as sanctuaries of genuine inquiry, not propaganda tools, as seen in the domestic risk of Confucius Centers in American universities.9 Academic freedom is a sacred trust, ordered toward truth and the formation of responsible citizens. Encouraging partnerships with institutions rooted in strong moral and intellectual traditions helps insulate academic life from corrosive external pressures. By fostering alliances committed to truth and human dignity, we strengthen education’s capacity to form citizens who think critically, act justly, and serve the common good. In the interest of academic freedom, the DOE should develop a model policy outlining what agreements with foreign entities (like Confucius Institutes) must include — such as transparency clauses, intellectual freedom guarantees, and mandatory oversight boards.
Our economic policies must reflect a commitment to solidarity with oppressed peoples, including those suffering under the CCP’s repressive regime, such as the Uyghurs.10 Reorienting trade and supply chains to avoid complicity in human rights abuses is not merely economic prudence but an act of moral witness.11 Businesses should adopt ethical investment practices and corporate standards that honor human dignity. Simultaneously, we must support Chinese
diaspora communities resisting CCP coercion, affirming their courage and defending their freedom. Upholding religious liberty and freedom from coercion lies at the heart of this commitment and echoes our national dedication to individual rights.
Finally, investing in civic and moral education is indispensable for cultivating virtue and resisting manipulation. A resilient democracy depends on citizens who are not only informed but morally formed — capable of discerning truth and placing the common good above self-interest. Strengthening local communities as mediating institutions is critical, for it is within these social bodies that individuals learn solidarity, responsibility, and moral discernment.12 Block grants should be accessible to states to promote civic education centers and education programming. Similarly, the national government should encourage states to adopt enhanced civics standards including lessons on foreign influence and moral responsibility. Promoting practices that build social trust and resist radical individualism ensures democracy remains rooted in authentic human relationships rather than abstract systems alone. In this way, we renew not only our political structures but also the moral fabric that sustains them.13
III. Double Effect Risks
In responding to CCP influence, we must avoid the danger of allowing protective measures to devolve into xenophobia or unjust suspicion toward individuals of Chinese descent. We must clearly distinguish between the CCP’s actions and the inherent dignity of Chinese people everywhere. Every person possesses inherent worth and deserves respect and compassion. By affirming the universality of human rights and equal dignity of all, we ensure that our defense against external threats strengthens rather than undermines our moral and civic foundations.
Moreover, while protecting institutions, we must preserve academic freedom, which allows for the honest pursuit of truth.14 This freedom is not absolute license but is always ordered toward the common good. Policies must avoid stifling legitimate research and exchange. By honoring both freedom and integrity, we reinforce the scholarly vocation as a public trust capable of forming citizens who resist propaganda and live in truth.
A society that defends human dignity and preserves authentic academic freedom must also cultivate the virtues that animate democratic life.15 This includes fostering solidarity across diverse communities, encouraging respectful dialogue, and nurturing a shared commitment to truth. In doing so, we resist external threats and internal decay, building a culture in which freedom is not an abstraction but a lived reality grounded in moral responsibility. By integrating vigilance with charity and security with respect for human dignity, we model the society we aspire to defend — one that embodies the fullness of human flourishing envisioned in both the American democratic ideal and Catholic social thought.
IV. Conclusion
Confronting the CCP’s global reach is not merely a defensive task; it is a deeply constructive one. It invites us to renew the moral and civic ecology that sustains our democracy and supports the dignity of each person. It challenges us to reflect on who we are as a people and what kind of society we wish to build for future generations. At its core, this struggle is about safeguarding the conditions necessary for truth to be freely sought, conscience to be respected, and authentic communities to flourish — aspirations at the heart of both our democratic tradition and our shared moral heritage.16
By embracing transparency, moral vigilance, and a steadfast commitment to human dignity, we affirm that national security is inseparable from the moral health of our polity. Our response must not be guided by fear alone but by a love of truth and dedication to the common good. In doing so, we resist the corrosion of our institutions and reject the reduction of persons to mere instruments of power or profit. We offer a witness to the world: that freedom, rightly understood, is not empty license but the possibility of living in accordance with truth, bound together in solidarity and oriented toward the good.17
To defend democracy against the CCP is to defend the dignity of the human person, the integrity of our civic institutions, and the moral inheritance entrusted to us. It is a call to renew the habits of virtue, strengthen bonds of community, and cultivate a culture of truth. In rising to this challenge, we fulfill the deepest promises of the American experiment and our shared duty to love our neighbor. May we have the courage and clarity to meet this moment, not merely as a policy necessity but as an act of moral and civic fidelity to our nation and our common humanity.
1 The CCP seeks to reshape the global order in a way that privileges authoritarian governance over liberal democracy. By projecting economic and military power abroad, China challenges U.S. influence in Asia and globally. Through disinformation campaigns, cyber intrusions, and “united front” operations, the CCP deliberately sows division within democratic societies, weakens public trust in institutions, and attempts to manipulate discourse to favor authoritarian narratives. In the U.S., these activities aim to exacerbate polarization, discredit democratic governance, and suppress criticism of the CCP’s human rights abuses.The CCP’s global ambitions are rooted in a model of governance that rejects universal human rights in favor of state-controlled “social stability.” By normalizing surveillance, censorship, and repression abroad, the CCP undermines the normative framework that has underpinned post-WWII human rights and freedoms — a framework in which the U.S. has long played a leading role
2 At the heart of Catholic social teaching (CST) is the belief that every human person is created imago Dei — in the image and likeness of God — and thus possesses inherent dignity, freedom, and moral worth. The CCP denies this dignity, reducing the person to an instrument of state power and economic productivity. This foundational principle grounds resistance to surveillance, coercion, and repressive social engineering. See Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, no. 51, which emphasizes moral coherence and integral human development as the foundation for authentic social structures.
3 Catholic teaching insists that freedom is oriented toward truth, as outlined in Veritatis Splendor.
4 For the American importance of community and associations in American democratic life, please see Volume II, Book II, Chapter 5 of Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. For the risks and adverse effects of losing community, please see Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert D. Putnam
5 John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor, no. 34: “The freedom of the human person finds its authentic and complete fulfillment precisely in the acceptance of that truth.”
6 Gaudium et Spes, no. 74: “The political community exists for the common good: this is its full justification and meaning.”, James Madison, Federalist No. 55: “There is a degree of depravity in mankind which requires a certain degree of circumspection and distrust… but there are other qualities in human nature which justify a certain portion of esteem and confidence.”
7 Congressional Research Service (CRS), Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA): Issues and Policy Options, 2022.
8 Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, no. 562: On the importance of information and communication that serves the common good.
9 U.S. Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee, China’s Impact on the U.S. Education System, 2019.
10 Dignitatis Humanae (1965) outlines suggestions on the importance and preservation of religious freedom, religious liberty, and the right to seek truth without coercion, an inherent right of every person. John Paul II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, no. 38: On the moral duty of solidarity with oppressed peoples worldwide.
11 John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, no. 20: Discusses “structures of sin” and complicity in unjust systems., Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, Public Law No: 117-78, signed December 2021.
12 National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, Final Report, 2021 — discusses strategic vulnerabilities in tech supply chains and ethical risk.
13 George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796: “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”
14 Dignitatis Humanae, no. 2: On the right to seek and adhere to the truth, and the foundation of religious and academic freedom.
15 Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est, no. 28: “The just ordering of society and the State is a central responsibility of politics… Love—caritas—will always prove necessary, even in the most just society.”
16 John Paul II, Message for the World Day of Peace (1991), no. 1: “Respect for conscience and freedom is the first condition for peace and justice in society.”