“Communist China is an existential threat to freedom, and Americans need to stand with President Trump to hold them accountable.” That is the name of the new petition on WhiteHouse.gov letting President Trump know that Americans have his back when it comes to dealing with China.

Only those stuck in the ignorance spread by MSNBC, CNN, and the Washington Post remain unaware that the coronavirus that resulted in almost a quarter million dead worldwide came from China.

As a reminder of China’s culpability, consider the fact that in mid-January China informed the World Health Organization that there was no evidence the Wuhan virus could be transmitted from human to human, despite knowing by mid-December how the Wuhan virus was spreading throughout their population. In short, they lied, and as a result people died. Incredibly, the World Health Organization affirmed China’s lie, thus failing in fulfilling its primary mission of protecting the world from pandemics.

In January, China cut off the Hubei province (where the virus’ epicenter of Wuhan is located) from the rest of China, but continued to allow international flights out of China, which can only be interpreted as gross malfeasance or an attempt to spread the virus. Throughout January and February, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) hoarded the global supply of personal protective equipment, leaving other nations unprepared. Then China sold millions of broken and faulty coronavirus tests to the world, exacerbating the crisis in countries that were most affected by the Wuhan virus. Today, China is refusing to allow American companies to ship protective equipment out of China to deal with the pandemic that was created by China.

This is why it is imperative that President Trump take action to encourage the movement of pharmaceutical and medical device production out of China and back to America. Additionally, there must be a full and transparent investigation into the origins of the virus in China to provide the world with the truth about China’s culpability and to establish a “what not to do” set of protocols when the next virus crosses over from animals to humans.

The Chinese Communist Party’s behavior in causing this current crisis and the economic disaster that ensued does not surprise those of us who have been studying China’s behavior over the years. China is cited by the U.S. Department of Labor for using child and slave labor in the manufacture of more than ten goods that they export to the U.S., including electronics, toys, fireworks, Christmas decorations, footwear, and textiles.

As has been widely reported, China continues to jail Christians and Muslims, and there are credible accusations that they use political prisoners for forced organ harvesting. And let us not forget the forced abortion policy that dominated China for a generation and the economic warfare they have engaged in against the United States which hollowed out our nation’s manufacturing sector before Donald Trump was elected president. The fight to make America great again is all about changing these trade policies which have shipped American manufacturing and the jobs it created to China.

But one China export that most people don’t know about is the creation of CCP-funded Confucius Institutes on our college campuses. This is nothing less than a blatant influence operation designed to define how China is taught in our university system. The even more nefarious purpose of the CCP’s funding of these “institutes” is their desire to recruit spies and penetrate our universities’ research facilities, transferring the stolen intellectual property to China where it can be used for military or other purposes. The Trump administration needs to take action to end the CCP’s hook into the minds of our next generation and their exploitation of our open university research system.

The litany of China’s abuses is longer than can be detailed in one article, but the CCP’s coronavirus malfeasance should unite America in a determination to hold China accountable. We have seen how the Chinese Communist Party treats their own people. We have seen their willingness to endanger the entire world through their coronavirus denial and lies.

Fortunately, we have President Trump who is willing to take whatever action is necessary to hold them accountable. Signing the petition shows the president that we are with him as he considers the right actions to take.

Rick Manning is the president of Americans for Limited Government.