One hungered-year-old former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger embarrassed the White House receiving a hero’s welcome in Communist China, meeting with China’s senior diplomat Wang Yi, Defense Minister Li Shangfu and 69-year-old Chinese President Xi Jinping. White House officials, including 80-year-old President Joe Biden, 60-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken and 45-year-old National Security Adviser Jake Sullian, all have managed since taking office Jan. 20, 2021 to alienate the Beijing government. Blnken and Sullivan accused Beijing March 18, 2021 of genocide against Mulim Uyghurs and a crackdown of pro-democracy protester in Hong Kong at an Anchorage, Alaska summit. U.S. officials led by 83-year-old former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi infuriated Beijing visiting Taiwan Aug. 4, 2022 over China’s objections driving a wedge with Beijing.
Biden didn’t help matters violating former President Jimmy Carter’s 1979 Taiwan Relations Act,, telling Beijing Sept. 23, 2022 that he would commit U.S. troops to defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion. Biden has been unrelenting lambasting China for supporting 70-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin for his Ukraine War. Biden couldn’t get Xi Jinping to denounce Putin instead driving the two communist superpowers into an unprecedented political, economic, military and strategic alliance. Biden knows that Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu refused to meet with 69-year-old Defense Secretary Lloyd Ausitn, all because White House officials have been so hostile toward China. “It’s unfortunate that a private citizen can meet with the defense minister and have a communication and the United States can’t,” said White House National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby.
Kirby knows the reason why the White House has pushed China away, driving Beijing into a close alliance with the Russian Federation. If the White House wanted better ties with Beijing, Biden wouldn’t talk about committing U.S. troops to defend Taiwan. When Biden funds a costly proxy war to battle the Kremlin, what’s Xi Jinping thinking about who’s next in the U.S. crosshairs? How does such belligerent action supposed to be taken in Beijing, when Biden and Blinken talk openly about Indo-Asian NATO, soliciting a new alliance against Beijing? Xi has made clear he sees U..S. encroachment in Eastern Europe as causing the Ukraine War. Biden thinks everyone thinks like he does about Russia’s invasion. China, India, Brazil, South Africa and other nations don’t see the Ukraine conflict as all Putin’s fault. Some countries see Biden’s involvement.
Kirby and other White House officials can’t have it both ways: Expecting friendly relations with Beijing when they accuse Communist China of genocide and brutal crackdown in Hong Kong. If the White House wants the same respect as Kissnger, it needs to soften the tone with Mainland China, including accusing Beijing of genocide against Muslim Uyghurs. Biden’s Sept. 23, 2022 statements that he would commit U.S. troops to fighting Biejing violated the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act that ended the 1954 Sino-American Mutual Defense treaty. Kirby knows that if the White House wants better relations with Beijing, it needs to stop assembling a NATO-like coalition in Indo-Asia to challenge China’s sovereignty over the South and East China Seas to control international waterways. U.S. won a 2016 ruling against China in the Hague’s International Court of Arbitration.
Tensions are high with Communist China because Biden lacks the capacity to engage in ordinary diplomacy where the two leaders find common ground. Biden sees China violating various economic agreements, making routine diplomacy more difficult. “That I something that we want to solve,” Kirby said. “This is why we continue to try to get the military lines of communication back open because when they’re not open and you have a time like this when tensions are high, miscalculation also, the risk goes high,” Kirby said. Kirby acts like he doesn’t know what to do to improve U.S.-Chinese relations. Telling China that the U.S. will not defend Taiwan would be a good start. As long as Xi sees Biden violating the Taiwan Relations Act, there; not much left to talk about until Biden clarifies his position. China wants Biden to recant his decision to defend Taiwan.
Spending two days in Beijing, 80-year-old former Secretary of State John Kerry, now Biden;s Climate czar, tried to get Beijing to match U.S. climate change carbon limits. Kerry got a friendly enough response but no commitments. If the U.S. wants improved diplomatic relations with China, the U.S. needs to stop trying to organize an Indo-Asian coalition to confront China’s foreign policy, especially around the South China Sea. Kissinger suggested that the White House accommodate Beijing with less hostility. Biden can’t expect Beijing to see eye-to-eye with the U.S. on the Ukraine War, realizing that every country has its own agenda. When Kirby or others talk like they don’t know why U.S.-Chinese relations are a low point, look no further than Biden saying he would defend Taiwan. White House officials have difficulty walking back all of Biden’s gaffes.
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.
