Driving Russia and China closer economically and militarily, 78-year-old President Joe Biden didn’t know the consequences on his get-tough policy on Russia and China. Since taking office Jan. 20, Biden and his 58-year-old Secretary of State Tony Blinken have been hostile to Russia and China, accusing the two superpowers of committing egregious human rights abuses. When Blinken and 44-year-old National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with China for a get-to-know-you summit in Anchorage, Alaska March 18, they slammed Bejing for “genocide” of Muslim Uyghrus in Western China. Blinken and Sullivan read China a litany of human right abuses, complaining about cracking down on Muslim Uyghurs, pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong and pro-sovereignty activists in Taipei. Senior Chinese diplomats led by Yang Jiechi fired back at U.S. hypocrisy.
Russia and China signed today a five-year extension today of a 20-year-old friendship treaty, essentially countering growing influence of NATO in Eastern Europe. Russia and China believe they play a decisive role in global stability, something undermined by the Untied States and European Union [EU], both continuing to slap Russia and China with economic sanctions. Until Biden met with Russian President Vladimir Putin June 16 in Geneva, even the EU was concerned about growing tensions between Washington and Moscow. Extending the 20-year-old friendship treaty would have happened anyway, but Biden’s belligerence to Russia and China drove both superpower to make renewed commitments to each other. Biden’s Geneva summit with Putin saw a reversal from the harsh rhetoric that was part of Biden’s foreign policy toward Russia and China.
Biden spent months ratcheting up tensions with Beijing and Moscow, only recently showing that he wanted to put U.S.-Russian relations on a “stable-and-predictable” foothold. But all the hostile rhetoric, calling Putin a “soulless killer” March 16, has driven Russian and China into a NATO-like alliance where both Beijing and Moscow can advance their global vision. While Biden and his counterpart at the EU Ursula von der Leyen continue to disparage Russia and China, Beijing and Moscow have renewed their love-fest, driven by the U.S. and EU sanctions. When you consider most of the animosity at Russia involves treatment of 44-year-old Russia dissident Alexi Navalny, its makes you wonder what Biden and Blinken were thinking. Basing foreign policy on human rights with Russia and China creates an unrealistic set of demands, pushing Russia and China together.
Signing an extension on their 20-year cooperation agreement, Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized cooperation between Beijing and Moscow, vowing to uphold a “true multilateralism and global justice,” whatever that means. Coming from Xi, it means keeping the U.S. out of the Pacific Rim. For Putin, it means keeping NATO out of the Black Sea, letting him do whatever he wants. “Trump’s mulilateralism and global justice” means very different things to Russia and China. It means keeping Russian and Chinese power unchecked into their neck of the woods. When it comes to Russia, they want the U.S. to stay away from the Black Sea and the Arctic, anywhere where Russia seeks to monopolize mineral wealth and global interests. For Beijing, it means building out endless military installations in the South and East China Seas, continuing to bully China’s Pacific Rim neighbors.
U.S. Chinese and Russia relations was always built from the early days of the 1949 Maoist Revolution on the premise that the two powers would remain adversaries. You’d think that communist totalitarianism would bring them together but, in the past, it made them competitive for global supremacy. With Biden slapping Russia and China with sanctions for human right abuses, it pushes the two countries together in a kind of totalitarian alliance. Putin congratulated Xi in the 100-year anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, saying China makes “new achievements in the country’s social-economic and on the international stage,” Putin said, forgetting that China’s recent manned space operation to a new rotating Tiangong space station shows that it’s competing strongly with the U.S.. China’s been ferrying equipment to the moon for eventual construction of a moon base.
Biden’s foreign policy toward Russia and China has pushed the two totalitarian powers into a united alliance to oppose the U.S. and NATO. Picking on both countries for human rights abuses set the stage for the Russia-China alliance that now threatens Western democracies. To get back some leverage with Russia, Biden needs to back off the criticism and sanctions and show he find common ground with Moscow and Beijing. China and Russia want “true multilateralism and global justice,” meaning the want no restrain from the West when it comes to bullying other countries in the Pacific Rim. Putin likes a military alliance with China to fend off potential U.S. or NATO threats, especially over its policy in Ukraine. NATO thought by now Putin would give up on Ukraine, if, for no other reason, to end U.S. and EU sanctions. Biden must now think twice before criticizing Russia and China.
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