The most obvious harm of the more than $1 trillion that the United States owes to Communist China as part of our $14.8 trillion national debt is the massive amount of interest that our taxpayers must unproductively pay on that debt every year.
But that is not the only consequence of being deep in debt to a nation such as Communist China.
Recently, the United States refused to sell five dozen F-16 fighter jets to the free Republic of China on Taiwan. Instead, our nation sold Taiwan only some material to upgrade a fleet of aircraft that Taiwan purchased almost 20 years ago.
Why did we decline to sell the F-16s to Taiwan? After all, it's a friend and strategic ally to our country, and it needs a strong military to fend off the threat that Communist China may try to seize the island and forcibly reunite the two nations.
Well, relations among the United States, Communist China and Taiwan are complicated, to say the least. Communist China considers Taiwan merely a part of its territory -- a view that democratic Taiwan understandably rejects. Unfortunately, since the Carter administration, the United States has officially recognized Communist China and has not recognized free Taiwan -- though we still have unofficial relations with Taiwan.
But with Communist China holding so much U.S. debt, it's a sad reality that our government fears economic retaliation by China if we appear too friendly with Taiwan. As then-Sen. Hillary Clinton said when asked why the United States doesn't take a tougher stand against Communist China, "How do you get tough on your banker?"
The desire to placate Communist China is part of the reason why the Obama administration has been unsteady in its support for Taiwan.
Regrettably, the United States is paying a high price for our reckless spending and debt -- especially the debt we owe to China.