After shooting down what China calls a weather balloon last week, tensions have never been higher with the Peoples Republic of China, prompting calls by the Foreign Ministry that the U.S. used “indiscriminate aggression.” Instead of ratcheting down tensions, Biden sent the USS Nimitz nuclear-powered aircraft carrier strike group and the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit to conduct “integrated expeditionary strike force operations” into the South China Sea. U.S. has had a beef with China for building out military installations on sandbars in the Spratly Islands’ shallow shoals for the past 10 years. U.S. took China to the International Court of Arbitration at the Hague where China lost a ruling July 12, 2016, over freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. China rejected the Hague’s ruling because Beijing doesn’t subscribe to the International Court of Arbitration.
U.S. officials, and its Indo-Pacific allies claim that China seized illegally sovereign control of areas in open waters, not part of any sovereign country. Yet building military installation on sandbars, China asserted its right to seize control of the South China Sea, considering the waterway part of Communist China. U.S. officials are committed to open navigation in the South China Sea where some $5 trillion in goods pass through on ships every year. Sending a U.S. carrier strike force to the South China Sea directly challenges China’s navy, no match to the U.S. Pacific Fleet but still capable to launching attacks on U.S. ships. Relations with China took a hit last summer when 82-yearold former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) visited Taiwan Aug. 4, 2022, telling the Taipei government that the U.S. has its back. Biden followed up Sept. 23, 2022, saying he would defend Taiwan with U.S. troops.
Biden knows the U.S. is bound by the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, signed into law by former President Jimmy Carter, agreeing to recognize diplomatically only one China, the one in Beijing. Signing the Taiwan Relations Act, Carter agreed to end the 1954 Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty that obligates the U.S. to defend Taiwan in the event of a Beijing takeover. So, with Biden ordering the shoot down of a Chinese Spy Balloon Feb. 4, China was already up in arms. Sending the Nimitz strike force into the South China only makes a bad situation worse. Biden has a proxy war in Ukraine going against the Russian Federation. Now he’s on the verge of going to war against Communist China, all because he doesn’t like China’s human rights record, something not typically used to interfere with relations between nuclear-armed superpowers. Biden’s been the most belligerent U.S. president on record.
When the U.S. discovered the Chinese spy balloon drifting for six days across the continental states, Biden finally order the shoot down Feb. 4, prompting Beijing to react harshly to U.S. actions. No one knows now how China will react to today’s provocation in the South China Sea. While freedom of navigation still applies in the South China Sea, given the high state of tension between Washington and Beijing, you’d think Biden would call off any provocative military drills. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, 60, already cancelled his recently scheduled trip to Beijing after the Feb. 4 balloon shoot down. Blinken finds it’s going to be difficult under the circumstances to reschedule his diplomatic mission to Beijing, knowing the current state of tensions. Beijing could act at anytime to attack U.S. assets in the region. Blinken called the spy balloon incident a clear violation of U.S. sovereignty.
Whatever the reason, Biden has no business provoking the Chinese while he’s fighting a bloody proxy war against the Russian Federation. U.S. national security requires the White House to get along with its adversaries, regardless of the propensity to take more aggressive action. Biden knows the U.S. should end its proxy war against the Russian Federation. Whatever Ukraine’s beef with the Kremlin, it’s not up to the U.S. to settle the score. When it comes to China, there’s no reason for Biden to make bilateral relations more tense when provocation could send world peace in flames. Pentagon officials have known about China’s network of spy balloons for years. Why now the White House takes an aggressive stand is anyone’s guess. Biden can’t afford to open up a new war front with China when the outcome in Ukraine remains in doubt with U.S. national security requiring careful calculation.
Sending the U.S. Nimitz carrier strike force into the South China Sea was bad timing, not required for national security. “As a ready response force, we underpin a broad spectrum of missions including landing Marines ashore, humanitarian disaster relief, and deterring potential adversaries through visible combat power,” read a Pentagon news release. Biden must pick-and-chose his battles wisely to protect U.S. national security. Going to war with the Russian Federation harmed U.S. national security, something unnecessary to protect democracy in Europe. Ukraine’s 44-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky told a joint session of Congress Dec. 21, 2022 and more recently in Brussels that Ukraine is not a charity case but an investment in preserving Europe democracy. Elected officials on both sides of the Atlantic have been sold a bill of goods by Zelensky, when NATO protects Europe’s security.
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.
