Thanks to the highest gas and electricity prices in the nation, California faces structural budget deficits that will bankrupt it if there is even a slight economic downturn. California’s fiscal frailty and energy dependence are no accident. They are a trap designed by the Chinese Communist Party, and the state’s Democrats have eagerly fallen into it.In a new report, the National Association of Scholars details Beijing’s efforts over decades to exploit the Left’s obsession with and exaggeration of climate change. This weakens the United States and its allies by creating political pressure to reduce oil, gas, and coal production. It also makes nations more dependent on China-controlled supply chains for electric vehicles, batteries, solar panels, and rare-earth minerals.China controls more than half of the world’s rare-earth mining capacity and roughly 90% of refining capacity. The minerals are essential for technologies that Western governments mandate in the name of climate policy. China also produces more than 70% of the world’s electric vehicles. A forced transition away from fossil fuels, therefore, does not free the West from China’s dependence. It merely shifts that dependence from domestic oil and gas producers to Chinese-dominated minerals and manufacturing.