LOS ANGELES.–However 81-year-old President Joe Biden finds ways to stick it to China, banning TikTok or forcing a sale in the U.S. would kick sand in 70-year-old Chinese President Xi Jinping’s face. It’s bad enough that Biden called Xi a “dictator” behind his back at an ASEAN summit in San Francisco Nov. 15, 2023 but banning TikTok would be another slap. Biden told Xi in Sept. 2022 that he would commit U.S. troops to defend Taiwan, breaching the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, signed into law by former President Jimmy Carter. Bipartisan House lawmakers passed a bill to ban or sell-off TikTok allegedly because the Chinese-based Website with over 170 million U.S. users threatens U.S. national security. Biden is the biggest threat to U.S. national security, provoking China into going to war over Taiwan, should Beijing decide to repatriate the Island of Formosa, AKA the Republic of China [ROC].
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, 61, said the U.S. was entering into a new Mutual Defense Treaty with the Philippines because of China’s illegal annexation of shallow islands in the South China Sea for military purposes. Biden was part of the Obama State Department when it sued China in the International Court of Arbitration at The Hague. Blinken rubs salt in China’s wounds, reminding Beijing that the U.S. does everything possible in the Indo-Pacific region to undermine China. Blinken could care less about banning TikTok or stripping it of Chinese ownership. When it comes to the South China Sea, Blinken pushes China to do something drastic when it comes to Taiwan. Blinken said that U.S. commitment to Philippine Security was “ironclad,” much like its Mutual Defense Treaty with Taiwan. Only one minor problem, Carter abandoned the 1954 Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty in 1979.
When it comes to the South China Sea, China thinks the U.S. should stay out of China’s backyard, stop running warships in the area. China’s Foreign Ministry “threatened China with the so-called U.S.-Philippine Mutual Treaty obligations,” firmly opposed by China. China contends that its activities in the South China Sea are “legitimate and lawful,” calling out Blinken’s remarks, “ignore the facts, baselessly accuse China,” showing the degree to which China has lost patience with Biden’s foreign policy. Since Biden joined Ukraine’s war against the Kremlin, China responded by forming a close economic, military and strategic alliance with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Instead of jointing Biden’s coalition against the Kremlin, China has purchased more oil and natural gas than anytime in its history. Xi blames Biden for encroaching on Russia in Ukraine, opposing Biden’s proxy war with the Kremlin.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. pushed Washington to reaffirm its commitment to the 1951 Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty, requiring the U.S. to go to Philippine’s defense, in the event of a Chinese invasion. Blinken confirmed that the 1951 Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty extended to armed forces, public assets, aircraft and its national guard. Whatever the agreement, it’s looked at as a provocative threat to Beijing who resents Biden assembling a group of Pacific-Rim nations, including Japan, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam to deal with China’s aggression in the South China Sean and Taiwan Strait. Biden and Blinken have the worst diplomatic relations with China since the 1949 Maoist Revolution. At rate things are going now, four more years with Biden would likely start WW III in the Pacific.
China resents U.S. warships routinely sailing in international waters in the South China Sea. Xi wants Biden to stop undermining China putting together a coalition of nations willing to push back against Chinese aggression in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait. China routinely flies fighter jets into the Taiwan Security Zone, giving Taiwan the right to respond. China does not recognize the ROC, sees it as a province of Mainland China. Taiwan’s 67-year-old President Tsai Ing-Wen rejects Beijing’s meddling in the Taiwan Strait, believing that Taiwan is an independent country, rejecting communism in every possible way. Since Carter signed the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, it gave China the idea that it could ignore the ROC’s right to independence by cancelling the 1954 Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty. Most Americans back the independence of Taiwan.
Biden and Blinken have to decide soon what direction they’re taking the U.S. in the next four years if they get reelected. Chinese President Xi Jinping made clear he sees Taiwan as a part of Communist China, not an independent state. Biden upended Xi’s view that the U.S. would recognize only one China, the one in Beijing. “The U.S. keeps saying that it wants to safeguard freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, but in fact it wants to guarantee the freedom of navigation of U.S. warships and planes traveled thousands of miles to China’s doorstep to flaunt their might and provoke trouble is a an out-and-out hegemonic activity,” said the Chinese embassy. If Biden and Blinke don’t stop provoking China, the U.S. could find itself into a war with Communist China. Xi said it’s not a matter of whether but when he would give the order to take over Taiwan.
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.
