After a Chinese balloon provocatively spied on major U.S. military sites a week ago, Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL) rightly called this incident “a Sputnik moment for America.” “Like Sputnik," he said, "the Chinese spy balloon has drastically changed Americans' sense of security.”

Thanks to President Donald Trump, most Republicans and Democrats now realize that China is America’s biggest geopolitical rival. The Trump administration initiated various measures to counter the growing threat from China, including trade negotiations and protection of American intellectual properties. The Biden administration followed up by strengthening export control of semiconductor technologies.

However, decoupling China in the technology sector alone will not guarantee that America will win the technology/military competition in the 21st century. Unlike the Soviet Union, whose technological innovation was eventually suffocated by its Marxist-planned economy, China has adopted a mixed state-capitalism system. Many of its innovations are created by both government institutes and the private sector or private companies with a government background, such as Huawei, the world’s 5G technology leader.

Today’s China is no longer a pure copycat of Western technologies. In commercial drone technology, Chinese manufacturer DJI dominates the world with a 70% market share. Social media giant TikTok was the most downloaded app of 2022, with more than 650 million downloads. Even with decoupling, China will continue advancing its technologies, although at a slower pace, because each year, China educates 2 million college graduates from STEM majors while America educates less than 500,000.

In order to win the 21st century’s technology competition between the U.S. and China, once again, the U.S. needs to focus on technology innovation and safeguard America’s bedrock of ingenuity, including educational excellence and meritocracy.

As history records , after the Soviet Union's successful launch of Sputnik in 1957, President Eisenhower called on the nation to respond with "resourcefulness and vigor." He famously stated, "We need scientists in the ten years ahead ... scrutinize your school's curriculum and standards. Then decide for yourselves whether they meet the stern demands of the era we are entering."

In response to the Sputnik moment, less than a year later, America established NASA and passed the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) to prioritize educational excellence and technology innovation. By focusing on these areas, America was able to successfully land astronauts on the moon and regain its global leadership in the space race a decade later.

In contrast to what President Eisenhower and President Kennedy did to strengthen America’s competitiveness in the world, President Joe Biden, liberal politicians, American colleges, and corporations are using racial diversity, racial equity, climate change mandates, and other “woke” agendas to water down and destroy American educational excellence. They thus jeopardize America’s technological leadership in the world.

Today, American STEM education seriously lags behind that of China and many other nations. Our shortage of STEM talent endangers our technological leadership and national security. However, in the name of racial diversity, colleges such as Harvard and MIT, in 41 states, use race-based affirmative action to limit the enrollment of many better-qualified Asian American students who excel in STEM.

In the pursuit of “racial equity,” social justice warriors have accelerated their assault on standardized tests and labeled them as racist , launching baseless lawsuits against the University of California system. In May 2021, the University of California system surrendered to a few “social justice organizations” by promising that it will no longer consider SAT and ACT exams in its admissions process. According to the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, as of 2021, over 1000 colleges in America have made standardized tests either not required or optional.

In the wake of the George Floyd tragedy, liberal politicians in northern Virginia, Boston, and San Francisco abolished admission tests in top high schools. Canceling objective admission tests will destroy meritocracy and hinder the ability of educational institutions to identify and educate the best and brightest students.

The woke mob's assault on STEM education has even gone so far as to label mathematics as racist . In May 2021, the California Instructional Quality Committee approved a new math education framework that eliminated college-level math courses in high schools, even for students who are talented in math and eager to learn beyond the high school curriculum. In July 2021, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown signed a bill that suspended math and reading proficiency requirements for high school graduates.

Regrettably, America's woke politicians appear to prioritize racial "equity" over the critical need to strengthen math education for future generations. Without a strong foundation in basic math and reading skills, future Americans will be unable to perform even the most basic of tasks, such as designing a fighter jet, let alone countering a foreign threat.

Sadly for America, the woke culture is not limited to the education arena. Woke companies nationwide have established “diversity, equity, and inclusion” councils that mandate employee recruitment and promotion to reach racial diversity and equity quotas instead of treating everyone equally based on merit. United Airlines has set up gender and racial quotas to hire and train 50% of pilots as women and people of color. YouTube and the University of Louisville have excluded Asian and white people from being hired.

Dangerously, the influence of "woke" culture has even reached the heart of the federal government: the Department of Defense. Secretary Lloyd Austin has plans to transition the military's vehicles to electric by 2035 and net zero by 2050. This plan stems from the woke mandate to address climate change, despite the fact that electric vehicles are not capable of meeting the demands of military operations in harsh weather conditions.

Obviously, “woke” social justice warriors have launched a systematic assault on the very foundation of America’s technology leadership: STEM education, meritocracy, and military readiness. The current “woke” culture is hindering our ability to compete with China and other nations in technology innovation and national security.

America’s new Sputnik moment should serve as a wake-up call to stop “woke” policies. We need to return to meritocracy and prioritize STEM education, objective admission tests, and equal treatment of all people regardless of race. Only then will America be able to maintain our technological leadership and defend against threats to our national security.

Yukong Mike Zhao is the president of Asian American Coalition for Education . In his new book, Critical Race Theory and Woke Culture: America’s Dangerous Repeat of China’s Cultural Revolution , he exposes how woke culture destroys America’s educational excellence, technological leadership, and national security.