Joe Biden and Susan Rice, Photo: AP / deadline.com n 2013, Susan Rice became U.S. President Barack Obama's National Security Advisor. Ms. Rice continued the Obama administration's policy of appeasement towards China. Under Rice's watch, the White House looked the other way as China turned one uninhabited reef after another in the South China Sea into artificial islands with runways, barracks, and radar towers. Today those islands are highly militarized and project Chinese naval power across most of the region. Aside from flaunting their disregard for generally accepted rules, China's President Xi Jinping and his top lieutenants appeared to hold little respect for Obama and Rice. In September 2016, the Chinese seemed to have intentionally kept Obama and his entourage waiting on the tarmac in Hangzhou when he arrived for a G20 summit meeting. Amid the confusion that surrounded his arrival, Rice appears to have been singled out for mistreatment by security officials at the airport. Why the incident in Hangzhou happened at all appears unclear even today. It only makes sense if one assumes that China just felt like showing the world that it could do what it did to a U.S. president, and get away with it. Unlike the Obama years, when China was coddled and allowed to do as it pleased without consequence, world leaders today are standing up to China and putting it in its place. Liberal democracies, everywhere now, realize the existential threat that China's unbridled ambition poses. As Obama's National Security Advisor, Susan Rice, had more than enough opportunities to stand up to China, unfortunately, she never did. If the Democrats win the White House in November, they will need a tough administration—one that will go toe-to-toe with Beijing at every turn. Published 8/11/2020