Uganda, April 10 -- Any de-risking strategy that does not include a focus on protecting civil society from CCP interference will fall short.

"De-risking" has become the buzzword in China policy circles since G-7 leaders endorsed the concept in May of last year. The task of reevaluating the complicated global supply chain with the People's Republic of China (PRC) has catapulted to the top of elites' minds from Washington to Brussels to Tokyo. However, this laser focus on vulnerabilities in the economic relationship with China ignores a critical blind spot: the vulnerability of democratic societies and their non-governmental sectors.

Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-affiliated entities have pierced - and in some cases, subsidized - civil soc...