Angry at Trump's Tariffs, China Threatens to Ban Hollywood.

It's not the first time. And it won't be the last. But I don't blame Xi Jinping. I blame Biden.

By Greg Rabidoux

Back in the days before everything you picked up had a "Made in China" label, China admired Hollywood. Mao's Communist propagandists openly marveled at Hollywood's technology, admired its storytelling prowess, and lusted at its power to shape popular culture. But they also feared Hollywood's hedonism. On screen and off. As Mao made clear, Art for art's sake does not exist. Everything must be done with only one purpose-to serve communism."

And comrade, if you think that type of self-serving, xenophobic thinking and behavior stopped when Mao took his own fateful "great leap forward" to the other side then you stopped paying attention at intermission. Today, Xi Jinping is simply continuing the ancient Chinese tradition of deception and manipulation. They ban Hollywood movies when it suits them, agree to "fair reciprocal cinematic trade" when it suits them, and then break both when it serves their greater Communist good. From the WTO to the Hollywood Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the complaints remain the same-China cheats. China steals. China lies. China has no respect for intellectual property, copyrights, trademarks or other things they consider to be western "legal niceties." In other words, "Thanks for the keys to your house, but don't expect the same in return."

And boy, have we handed them the keys to the Hollywood kingdom with a smile. In 2012, then VP Joe Biden, instead of taking the hardline and correct approach with Xi and China over their repeated violations involving Hollywood, he did what he always did-smile, mumble, and then give in to our adversaries. So, instead of fixing China's box office rip-offs of our Hollywood exports, fraudulent ticket sales, empty promises of allowing more of our films, world premieres that never came true, and co-productions that became Chinese monopolies, Biden agreed to waive all that past "stuff," plus any future violations (sound familiar Hunter?) in exchange for a promise from China to do better.

And Hollywood has been paying the price of this "sweetheart deal" to China ever since. Except for the occasional Avengers film or the most recent Fast and Furious, it continues to be mostly one-way traffic-From China to Hollywood. No return trips. We don't cap any foreign films entry in our market. We don't require co-productions with Chinese companies and then label it Chinese films to boost domestic box office. We don't require every "partner" to turn over all proprietary technology to its new Chinese "partner." And we don't ban Indie films. Make too much trouble and say goodbye to 1.4 billion Chinese moviegoers.

But let's just skip to the end credits, shall we?

Since we now have a President who at least has business sense and a steel spine, and is re-setting our trade balance with China, it is now high time we fix this incredibly one-sided film trade between Hollywood and China. Audiences and filmmakers around the world are ready and eager to stand up and applaud.

Greg Rabidoux is an award-winning filmmaker, author, scriptwriter and free market and artistic expression advocate.

Check out (and by that we mean, buy) his recent book on China and Hollywood (pictured above) and available on Amazon and online booksellers everywhere!

In 1994, after years of banning all Hollywood films, China allowed The Fugitive to be shown. One of the reasons was because they wanted more access to Hollywood and its state-of-the-art filmmaking. The other was because The Fugitive was a "true" story of corrupt American justice system.