China hasn’t done anything cool since the Boxer Rebellion.

Over the last few decades, the country that gave us the printing press (sit down Gutenberg), gunpowder and crab rangoon has perfected its latest gift to humanity.

What might that be? Well, it’s a socio-economic system that combines all the best elements of past systems: the overwhelming greed and consumption of capitalism mixed with a totalitarian style of suppression so blatantly cruel and hypocritical it was once only utilized by failed Austrian painters.

This summer in Beijing, the Chinese have graciously invited the nations of the world to partake in their fried noodles, engage in track and field events and bathe in the blood of political dissidents.

To hell with that. The United States should boycott the Olympics, sell Taiwan some really good killing machines and reform our foreign policy with the big frumpy dragon in eastern Asia.

To start with, let’s look at just a few of the events the Chinese government has gone through in the last few months.

First, there was the Chinese beat down of protesters in Tibet. Yes, that’s right: Chinese rule is so terrible that it can inspire a society of Buddhist monks to take to the streets and riot. The Chinese have also helpfully expelled all Western journalists from Tibet, so that they may more freely engage in a violent and systematic quelling of all those damn monks and Sherpas.

Back home in China, there is a growing undercurrent of citizens who feel that China is wasting energy and effort on the Olympics instead of fixing the crippling poverty afflicting millions of its citizens.

These same dissenters also allege that to allow China to host an event devoted to equality and international peace is a bit ironic considering the nation’s history of human rights violations and shady foreign dealings. As though in an effort to prove them right, the Chinese government has arrested (and allegedly tortured) the loudest and most visible of these protesters.

How is it possible that the United States is willing to blindly treat this country as a friend and economic partner?

Free trade is fine by me, but if China wants to trade with us they must live up to the same global rules and standards that we do.

I don’t care how many McDonald’s restaurants there are or how much of Wal-Mart’s inventory is produced in China. Tyrants rule that country. Last time I checked, we members of the free world are opposed to tyrants.

I’m not saying we have to nuke Beijing (yet), but we must pressure China into playing by the rules.

The free and prosperous powers of the world – the United States, Europe, Japan, etc. – should use their considerable economic clout to get China onboard with human rights, free speech and ethical trade policies.

The United Nations, The World Trade Organization, The World Bank are all groups that should theoretically seek to make China a nation that acts fairly both to its citizens and in its dealings abroad.

The United States should pressure all of them to get moving and, if necessary, consider global economic sanctions of China.

Unilaterally, the U.S. government should publicly condemn the Chinese government for its terrible human rights record and take steps to assure that no American private enterprises ever do any business with Chinese industries that do not live up to international human rights and trade laws.

Finally, under absolutely no circumstance should American Olympic athletes – who represent our nation and bear our flag – ever compete within the tyrannical realm of a country like China.