However, the roots are deep and the problem wide. The West is only beginning to realize that we are living in the throes of a protracted war of values between authoritarianism and democratic constitutional governments, and the different battlefields—significant issues with global impact such as Hong Kong and COVID-19—will continue to emerge until authoritarianism is shaken from its foundations.

To shift the balance, the West will need to unite on a platform of universal values and human rights, putting aside internal domestic differences, such as those dividing the Democrats and Republicans, in pursuit of a united front to combat the common threat from the CPC. Human rights transcend borders, language and culture, and represent the highest ideals of humankind. The West needs to re-embrace these values as the foundation for action—not just rhetoric.

There was never any question that the CPC’s end goal, with regard to the “one nation, two systems” policy governing Hong Kong since its handover from Britain in 1997, was to eventually integrate the territory into its repressive political structure—and to fool Taiwan into returning to the motherland along the way. However, each blow to Hong Kong’s freedoms has been an opportunity, often lost, for the West to take a strong, unequivocal position backed with action.

When the West falters, the CPC takes this as a sign of weakness, of values as filigree instead of foundational building blocks of nations.

If Hong Kong and Taiwan seem far away to many Americans, consider that the COVID-19 pandemic, which has completely changed life in this country for the foreseeable future, originated in China, has killed over 400,000 people worldwide and has left economies in shambles for potentially years to come. Yet the CPC refuses to let in outside experts to investigate. The corruption and aggression of the CPC are now harming not just the Chinese people but people around the world.

That is why the U.S. and its allies must come together to take definitive, coordinated steps on multiple fronts to respond to the proposed changes to Hong Kong’s national security law, to target not only individuals (as the U.S. is already discussing) but also to hone in on the sources of wealth, power and legitimacy of the CPC regime itself.

First, the U.S. and its coalition should investigate and freeze CPC funds and financial assets held abroad, which support the operations of the organization and its vast structure, including propaganda and influence programs embedded in international bodies and in democratic countries.

Second, democratic nations should prevent the CPC regime from participating in international organizations like the United Nations and the World Trade Organization, where it regularly ignores the international treaties it signs while buying votes from vulnerable nations at the expense of global peace and health.

Third, the U.S. and its allies should demand that the CPC cease its current political actions with regard to Hong Kong and respect the “one nation, two systems” agreements or risk having diplomatic recognition transferred to the Republic of China.

These actions would work to prevent an aggressive state from manipulating the international system for its benefit.

It is time for America and other democratic nations to fully accept that the once-touted economic engagement with China has not—and will not—lead to political change; that the CPC regime has always seen the U.S. as an enemy, not a partner; and that authoritarianism is a fundamental threat to global peace.

The CPC does not represent the Chinese people, millions of whom have engaged in decades of struggle for democracy. The West must help the Chinese people establish a democratic nation built on human rights, the rule of law and constitutional governance, or catastrophes of varying forms will continue to plague the world by the hand of the CPC. The international community must come together to reassert our common human ideals at the foundation of Western democracies and to support the Chinese people. Together, we can usher the CPC into the shadows of history once and for all.

Chen Guangcheng is a Chinese civil rights lawyer and activist and a distinguished visiting fellow at the Institute for Policy Research at the Catholic University of America. This piece was translated by Danica Mills.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.