Washington, United States.
Joe Biden has decided not to go with funnels. the American president accuse Vladimir Putin of being a “murderer” and his team received a Chinese delegation with a barrage of accusations, an undiplomatic style that illustrates the will to resist the “autocrats“.
Perhaps a more traditional foreign policy would have been expected of what he was for a long time senator and then vice president, after the untimely tweets and deafening formulas of his predecessor Donald Trump.
But the first two months of his tenure, and even more so in recent days, have set a strong tone.
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when one journalist asked him if he thought the Russian president was “a murderer.” Joe Biden he answered in the affirmative without hesitation.
And to those who were wondering about a possible slip, the White house he assured that the president did not regret his words.
This is not the first time the Democrat has put harsh words on the head of the Kremlin.
“I told the president clearly To put, In a very different way to my predecessor, than the time when United States was subjected to the aggressive acts of Russia (…) it was over, “he said in early February, shortly after the first phone call between the two.
Biden showed the same firmness with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping. “It’s very hard,” “he doesn’t have a shred of democracy,” he said of him in February.
“If we do nothing, they will crush us,” he added a few days later, after a two-hour marathon call with his counterpart.
– The “values” of the United States –
Although this forceful language sometimes reminds a Trump, The context is very different.
“Trump had personal affinities with the autocrats, with the ‘strong men.’ I admired them,” says Thomas Wright, a member of the expert group. Brookings Institution.
“In fact, Trump had a bigger problem with the Allies United States. He was more angry with his allies than with his rivals. ”
Since coming to power in January, Joe Biden and his team have been working to seduce friends Washington and denounce the “authoritarianism” of Moscow i Beijing.
Hard words are part of this strategy and a foreign policy that has made the defense of human rights and the “values” of United States a priority.
“They are concerned about seeing the progress of authoritarianism and think that democracies need to work more closely to counter it,” Wright told AFP.
the American president he also wants to organize a “summit of democracies” on a date not yet set.
Perhaps most surprising is that his secretary of state, Antony Blinken, a sometimes reproached diplomat from the old school, greeted the ministers of Foreign Relations of China Thursday Alaska with an offensive speech, accusing Beijing, in front of cameras around the world, of “threatening global stability.”
“These manners are a far cry from diplomatic etiquette!” He reacted China.
For Thomas Wright, this “reveals that the relationship between United States i China is defined by rivalry and competition “.
For James Carafano of the Conservative Heritage Foundation, Blinken was “absolutely right” to be so firm and the Biden administration has nothing to lose by showing so much toughness.
“Be tough with Russia He China it brings together consensus from both the Democratic and Republican sides. Everyone wants to be tough “with these opponents of United States, Points out.
Carafano also notes a great continuity between the early acts of Democrats and those of the former Republican government, which had opposed the two rival powers even when President Trump tried to stage his “friendship” with Vladimir Putin o Xi Jinping.