Instead of finding common ground with the Peoples Republic of China [PRC], 79-year-old President Joe Biden has found every point of contention, including the latest dispute over Taiwan. Beijing saw red when Biden said May 23 that under his leadership the U.S. would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. Chinese President Xi Jinping, looking for another five-year-term this November, said Biden’s public statements breached the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, signed into law by former President Jimmy Carter. Carter, to entice China into the agreement, tossed Taiwan under the bus, agreeing to a so-called One China policy. Carter also agreed, to assure more slave labor markets to U.S. companies, to end the 1954 Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty, that assured Taiwan, from the 1949 Maoist Revolution, protection against any attempt by Beijing to invade the island.
Biden’s issue with Beijing was exacerbated by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Aug. 4 visit to Taipei over strong objections from Xi and the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Chinese officials practically begged the U.S. not to allow Pelosi to visit, knowing the sensitive nature of the relationship. Pelosi went right ahead with her visit, followed only two weeks later by another Congressional delegation led by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). Taken together, Beijing views the visit as a breach of the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, where Carter agreed to recognize only one China. Daniel Kritenbrink, the top State Department diplomat in East Asia, said the Beijing overreacted to Pelosi’s visit, trying to pick a fight with the United States Calling Pelosi’s trip and “excuse” to engage in belligerent behavior, Kritenbrink mirrors the hostile relations Biden has with the PRC. Biden accused Beijing of genocide against Muslim Uyghurs March 18, 2021.
Biden got off on the wrong foot with China when he sent 59-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken and 45-year-old National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan to Anchorage, Alaska March 18, 2021 to a get-to-know –you summit. Blinken and Sullivan proceeded to accuse Beijing of genocide, not the right start for improved relations. While Blinken and Sullivan were in Anchorage, Biden called Russian President Vladimir Putin “soulless killer,” another insult that soured U.S.-Russian relations. Under Biden’s watch, U.S.-Russian and U..S-Chinese relations are at the worst point in generations. Biden finds himself in a bloody proxy war with the Russian Federation in Ukraine and getting close to a war with China over Taiwan. If Biden doesn’t dial back the hostile rhetoric, he could find himself in a two-front war, one in Ukraine and another in Taiwan. Prospects for war in Taiwan are sheer madness.
Kritenbrink talks tough but mirrors the White House militant approach to China. “These actions are part of an intensified pressure campaign by the PRC against Taiwan, which we expect to continue to unfold in the coming weeks and months,” Kritenbrink said, echoing the White House hostile attitude toward Beijing. “The goal of this campaign is clear to intimidate and coerce Taiwan and undermine its resilience,” said Kritenbrink, talking like the U.S. can afford a military confrontation with China. Kritenbrink doesn’t acknowledge Biden Pelosi essentially giving unwavering support to Taiwan, including military assistance if China invades the island of Formosa. “While our policy has not changed, what has changed is Beijing’s growing coercion. The PRC’s words and actions are deeply de stabilizing. The risk miscalculation and threaten the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait,” Kritenbrink said.
Kritenbrink’s in complete denial over a U.S. policy change under Biden and more recently Pelosi. When the U.S. president says May 23 that he would defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion, that runs counter to the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act that ended the 1954 Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty. Biden and Pelosi ended 43 years of strategic ambiguity over what the U.S. would do to defend Taiwan. Kritenbrink said nothing has changed but he’s not seeing it from Beijing’s point of view. Maybe Kritienbrink doesn’t see any change in U.S.-Russia relations under Biden, with the bloody proxy war in Ukraine. Apparently Krtenbrink didn’t hear Biden say March 26 that he didn’t think Putin could stay in office. When that was echoed April 26 by 69-uear-old Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, saying the U.S. aim was to degrade the Russian military, it was a major shift in U.S.-Russian relations.
When it comes to the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, Biden and Pelosi said in no uncertain terms that the U.S. had Taiwan’s back. Whatever the One China policy meant in the past, it no longer means the same thing under Biden. “We will continue to take calm , but resolute steps to uphold peace and stability in the face of Beijing’s ongoing efforts to undermine it and to support Taiwan in line with our long-standing policy. We will act responsibly, steadily and resolutely,” Kritenbrink said. For a senior diplomat, Kritenbrink is certainly tone deaf to Beijing’s concerns. Biden and Pelosi said publicly that the U.S. position has changed, committing the U.S. to defending the 73-year-old democratic Republic of China [ROC]. Whether Xi’s ready to fight to get Taiwan back is anyone’s guess. What’s known for sure is that Beijing doesn’t like hearing Biden and Pelosi defend the island nation.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
