China’s dishonesty over coronavirus could lead to a global reassessment of how vital the authoritarian regime should be to the fate and prosperity of Western democracies, Brexit leader Nigel Farage has told Breitbart News.

Speaking to Breitbart News Network editor-in-chief Alex Marlow on the Breitbart News Daily Show on Sirius XM Patriot, “Mr Brexit” Nigel Farage — known for shepherding Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union from being a harshly opposed position to the proven view of the majority by the time of the 2016 Brexit referendum — turned his fire on China during a coronavirus discussion.

While Mr Farage praised the “very good, and very brave” U.S. President Trump for being the only global leader who dared to stand up to vested interests and Chinese power, the grassroots political leader made it clear it would take more than leadership from the corridors of power to reorientate the West away from Beijing, pointing out this ultimately was in the hands of consumer-citizens.

Listen: Nigel Farage speaks to Breitbart News Daily

Drawing attention to the paradox of Westerners being perfectly willing to buy cheap mass-produced goods made in circumstances that would not be tolerated at home, and enabled by a brutal authoritarian regime, Mr Farage told Breitbart listeners: “What you’re now seeing across the world is the growing realisation that this is a Communist dictatorship that has imprisoned hundreds of thousands of people just because of their religion, and tried to indoctrinate them.

“That through state executions gets rid of huge numbers of people every year — many of them, frankly for what they’ve believed, not what they’ve done wrong — and have completely hushed up this outbreak from the very beginning.”

On the global awakening that could now take place to shake off dependence on Chinese goods, Mr Farage continued: “I think what’s happening, is the great publics around the west are waking up to the fact that China is no longer an opportunity for us to buy cheap goods, but that China is a threat. And I hope we’re going to see two things — firstly, governments being demanded by their electorates that they are at least self-sufficient of things we need in times of national emergency. And secondly, my attitude, Alex, is going to be in years to come if I go into a shop in years to come and see a label that says ‘made in China’, I’m not going to buy that product while that barbarous regime is in charge.”

Emphasising the people’s power to make this change, Mr Farage concluded: “Ultimately, it isn’t governments or trade deals that decide how much business gets done between nations. It is consumers that make that decision, and I am hoping tens of millions of consumers across the west will follow my lead.

“And if that’s right, we will diminish the power of China. And if it’s not right, then in 10-15 years time, they will rule the world.”

Farage Warns Chinese Interests Lining up for ‘Fire Sale’ of UK Businesses https://t.co/WMCcyM7R5W — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) April 10, 2020

The remarks are not the first time Mr Farage has noted the enormous dependence many western nations have on China for equipment and consumer products, a problem made all the more clear by the sudden global demand for medical machines, medicines, and chemicals, with China a key source for all three. In early March Mr Farage reflected on the situation where first-world western nations — formerly all rich industrial countries themselves — were struggling to acquire the small amount of production coming out of China while unable to produce it themselves, noting: “The West’s supply chains have become too dependent on China”.”

On China using coronavirus — a crisis their early coverup may have severely intensified for the rest of the globe — as an opportunity to exert political power, Mr Farage continued: “To see China now exploiting a crisis that they have caused to spread their influence further and deeper into Europe should send a chill down our spines… I have pointed out before that many members of our big business class, of the civil service, and indeed of our political class are increasingly in the pay of China.

“They ought to take their noses out of the trough and have a think. Their financial wellbeing is not above the good of our nation.”

Another way in which China appears to be attempting to exploit the coronavirus is the enormous damage is if inflicting on businesses in foreign countries — weakness Chinese state-backed businesses with near-unlimited access to cash appear willing to exploit. Speaking in early April, the Brexit warned: “What is happening right now is that Chinese companies and Chinese money are lining up for what they expect to be a ‘fire sale’ of British businesses… I fear, we’re going to allow China in to buy up vast swathes of our strategic and manufacturing industries and it just can’t be allowed.

“The problem is is the same mob that sold us out to Brussels are now happy to sell out our sovereignty once again to China and this needs a much bigger, higher, level of debate.”