LOS ANGELES.–President Joe Biden, 81, now sidelined after dropping out July 21 of the 2024 presidential election tries to mend fences with China, sending 46-year-old National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan to Beijing to reduce tensions with Communist China. Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, 62, learned the hard way after alienating China in their first summit in 2021, accusing Beijing to genocide against Muslim Uyghurs and a brutal crackdown in Hong Kong. Sullivan now grovels with Chinese President Xi Jinping, 71, desperately trying to find common ground, now that Biden’s one-term presidency ends Jan. 20, 2025. “In this changing and turbulent world, countries need solidarity and coordination, not exclusion and or regress,” Xi told Sullivan. Sullivan once lectured Xi about genocide and a crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong. Sullivan now sings a different tune.
Sullivan wanted to improve U.S.-Chinese relations now that Biden pushed Xi into a close economic, military and political alliance with 71-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin. It wasn’t that long ago that Biden boycotted the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics where Putin attended to show his solidarity with China. Xi resisted Biden’s demands to publicly denounce Putin’s Feb. 24, 2022 Ukraine invasion, insisting it was “unjustified and unprovoked.” Xi disagreed with Biden, saying the invasion, was, in fact, provoked by Biden’s arms shipments to Ukraine and justified because of U.S. encroachment on Russian territory. U.S. supplied arms today are currently used by Ukraine in its Kursk invasion, seizing some 1,200 kilometers of Russian territory. Xi sees Biden pushing the same encroachment in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, understanding Putin’s dilemma.
Meeting with Chinese officials for three days, Sullivan said the meetings were constructive on issues on common interest, including reducing tensions with the Philippines in the South China Sea. Sullivan covered topics in Beijing on Taiwan, the South China Sea, Russia and the flow of raw chemicals from China used to make fentanyl in the U.S. Sullivan called the meetings a “vigorous give-and-take” on economic and trade issues. But clearly Sullivan comes to Beijing with only acquiescence in mind, no longer the same bravado lambasting Beijing for its treatment of Muslim Uyghurs, Hong Kong and other human rights abuses. “We didn’t discuss the American election,” Sullivan said, obviously because China doesn’t want to be accused in meddling in the Nov. 5 presidential election. Beijing is well aware of relations under 78-year-old former President Donald Trump.
Complaints from the Philippines prompted Sullivan to help resolve tensions in the South China Sea where recent skirmishes between Chinese and Philippine’s navy risks a wider escalation. Sullivan previously assured Philippines that the U.S. has its back when it comes to China’s aggression in the South China Sea. Xi wants the White House to back off its attempt to build a NATO-like alliance with Japan, Philippines and Australia to confront China’s aggression in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea. Xi put Sullivan in touch with China’s chief military adviser Zhang Yoyxia, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission and with China’s top foreign policy diplomat Wang Yi. Sullivan wanted to develop coordination in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea with the Chinese military. Zhang agreed that restoring military cooperation was a good step forward.
Sullivan’s mission was mending fences with China, after Biden had nearly pushed Beijing and Washington into a military confrontation over Taiwan. Biden told Xi in 2022 that, unlike Ukraine, he would commit U.S. troops to defend Taiwan, in the event of a Chinese invasion. China believes that Taiwan, the Island of Formosa, is a Chinese territory that must be reunified with Communist China. Chinese Taipei has been independent of Beijing since the 1949 Maoist Revolution where former Chinese Gen. Chiang Kai-shek fled Mainland China for Formosa to escape Mao’s Communist Revolution. Biden antagonized Xi by violating the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act where the U.S. ended its mutual defense treaty with Taiwan and agreed to recognize only one China, the one in Beijing. So, Sullivan’s mission in Beijing was purely to mend fences after Biden nearly wrecked U.S.-Chinese relations.
Biden’s conspicuous attempt to reverse four years of mistakes with Beijing won’t amount to too many real changes. U.S. officials can expect nothing to change in the South China Sea or Hong Kong for that matter. “Given the state of the world and the need for us to responsibly manage U.S.-Chinese relations, I think it’s a very important meeting,” said Zhang, glad that Sullivan was making the overture to reduce tensions. Biden had pushed the Kremlin and Beijing into a close economic, military and strategic alliance, the exact opposite of what Biden hoped for. Biden wanted Xi to condemn Putin Ukraine invasion but that never happened. Xi escalated Chinese purchases of Russian oil, in part due to U.S. sanctions against Moscow. Groveling to China now is too late to make any real difference, only satisfying Biden’s need to appear to have cooperative U.S.-Chinese relations before he leaves office.
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.
