Plunging U.S.-China relations into pre-President Richard Nixon lows in the early 1970s, 78-year-old President Joe Biden has made a mess of U.S. foreign policy, accusing China at a get-to-know you summit in Anchorage, Alaska of “genocide” of its Uyghur population in China’s Xinjiang province. Secretary of State Tony Blinken, 58, and 44-year-old National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan got on their high horse accusing China of grotesque human rights abuses. Chinese senior diplomat Yang Jiechi fired back that Biden admitted to the world the U.S. is a “systemically racist” country and should not lecture other countries on human rights. Biden was the first president in U.S. history to call his country “systemically racist,” giving every authoritarian nation on earth the perfect excuse to continue human rights abuses. Instead of listening more to China, Blinken and Sullivan only lectured .
China had no clue when Biden took office Jan. 20 that things would deteriorate so quickly from former President Donald Trump. Listening to Biden attack Trump in the 2020 campaign, you’d think he’d go easy on the Peoples Republic of China. Where Trump kept personal insults on China to a minimum, focusing on trade improving trade relations, Biden chose to attack China out of the gate for alleged human rights abuses. Accusing Beijing of “genocide” against it Muslim Uyghurs in Western China, Biden kicked China below-the-belt. Trump confined his criticism to strictly business, something China complained about but lived through his four years in office. Chinese President hoped that Biden would show a more amicable side, then blindsides China with attacks on his human rights abuses in Hong Kong, Taiwan and, of course, with Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
Pushed to the breaking point by Biden, China has made overtures to pariah states like Kim Jong-un’s North Korea or the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s Iran, both bitter enemies of the United States. It didn’t take long for Kim to start test-firing new ballistic missiles, firing a warning shot over Biden’s bow, daring him to take more aggressive steps toward Pyongyang. “China has always resolutely opposed the U.S. side engaging in bloc politics along ideological lines, and ganging up to from anti-China cliques,” said the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Biden has joined the European Union in criticizing China’s treatment of Uyghurs, protesters in Hong Kong and normal relations with Taiwan. “We hope the relevant countries see clearly their own interests . . . and are not reduced to being anti-China tools of the U.S.,” the Foreign Ministry said, pushing back at Biden’s criticisms.
China knows it plays a vital manufacturing hub for Europe, U.S. and South America, serving notice to other U.S. allies to stop the anti-China rhetoric. China was especially irked by the Biden’s accusations of “genocide” against Uyghrs when there’s no evidence of systematic murder, only civil rights issues and re-education camps. Whatever China’s approach to managing terrorism in its Western provinces, it’s far from the U.S. to jump on its high horse when the president himself called his country “systemically racist.” China and Russia watched nightly TV of race riots all over America, with American cities burned to the ground. Yang Jiechi held up a mirror to Blinken and Sullivan, pointing out that no country has a right to lecture others about human rights when it has an abysmal history of treatment against African Americans, something the world sees daily.
Pushing China into close alliances with America’s enemies is a direct consequence of Biden playing fast-and-loose with the facts about Uyghur genocide, pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and business ties with Taiwan. China plans a full PR offensive with Pacific Rim countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Philippines and South Korea. All countries, whether in the U.S., EU and Asia, want a solid working relations with China. Whatever happens in Western China, China’s business partners must let China deal with its own internal affairs, rather that call Beijing out for “genocide.” Biden’s recent meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga antagonized Beijing, presented a united front but pushed China into a host of new alliances. Whatever happens internally in China, hasn’t stooped global manufacturers from relying on China’s cheap labor market.
Chinese President Xi Jinping told German Chancellor Angela Merkel that he hoped she could get beyond the current negative U.S. propaganda campaign. Xi hoped “the EU will make a correct judgments on its interdependence,” referring to the long productive relationship with the EU. Biden and Blinken has so alienated China that they both expect all Europe to follow suit. But savvy EU countries know that they depend heavily today on Chinese manufacturing, just like the U.S. and other global powers. Xi knows that while the U.S. slams China on treatment of Uyghurs in Western China, multinational corporations like Nike and Adidas make use of Uyghur manufacturing in Xinjiang. “China hopes Washington can appreciate that it is in the U.S. interest to have China as a friend rather that a foe,” said Wang Wen, professor at Chongyang Institute of the Renmin Unviversity in China.
