https://spectator.org/category/politics/asia/
The Biden administration continues to show itself to be an empty suit on foreign policy. In the wake of the crisis, er, challenges on the southern border, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez called Biden “the migrant president.” After President Biden confirmed in an interview that yes, Russian President Vladimir Putin is a “killer,” Putin wished Biden good health and challenged Biden to a “basically live … open, direct discussion.”
Add China to the list of countries making us a laughingstock. The opening remarks of last week’s meeting between the Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan with China’s foreign policy chief Yang Jiechi and State Councilor Wang Yi in Alaska clearly reveal that the Biden administration lacks a credible, substantive China policy. There were several key takeaways from that meeting.
China does not believe the Biden administration will ever confront China, because Biden told them so.
Director Yang revealed that China is not at all threatened by the Biden administration, as “during the phone call between the presidents [of China and the United States], President Biden himself also talked about the importance of having no conflict or confrontation between our two countries.” Add to this President Biden’s past remarks seeming to sanitize the CCP’s genocide against the Uyghurs as a Chinese “cultural … norm,” the Biden administration has not given the CCP a reason to expect a hands-on approach from the United States.
The Biden team speaks of allies, but has no plan to leverage those allies.
Secretary Blinken was quick to mention that he had visited Japan and South Korea and that our two allies were “very interested in the discussions” that the U.S. and China are having, but he failed to articulate any policy from our alliances that would counter CCP aggression.
In response to what were essentially empty words from Team USA, the Chinese delegation discussed Japan and South Korea much more substantively. Director Yang replied,