President Biden came into office with a plan to deal with China that in theory seemed fantastic, but failed in practice.
Why it’s important: The idea was to confront China aggressively on a variety of issues, from trade abuses to human rights, while working cooperatively on areas of mutual interest, including climate change. A new plan to help Australia acquire nuclear submarines makes this two-way approach even less realistic.
- The subtext is hardly a subtext: although it refuses to cite China by name, the announcement sends a strong signal about the United States’ commitment to counter China’s naval activities in the Indo-Pacific region and, it will certainly provoke a reaction in Beijing.
- A senior government official who briefed reporters before the formal announcement learned why they refused to state how obvious China is at the heart of the decision.
- The official replied briefly, “I have nothing more to add than what I have said. This is not aimed at any country.”
Biden has labeled his approach in China as “extreme competition,” but the Chinese don’t buy it.
- According to the president’s theory, the Chinese would be willing to compartmentalize them.
- China, according to the argument, would be willing to ignore US criticism of state-sponsored piracy, genocide in Xinjiang and trade theft, and sit down with Biden climate envoy John Kerry , to establish an agreement on climate change, one of Biden’s. main international priorities.
But, but, but: Chinese officials have already made it clear that they will not accept the theories. They humiliated Kerry when she visited China two weeks ago.
- According to Axios, President Xi Jinping’s senior officials would only speak to Kerry by video call, sending a junior officer to meet in person with the former secretary of state.
- The Chinese officials themselves met in person with a Taliban delegation weeks earlier.
- Biden’s team seems to have acknowledged that it is not moving forward with the Chinese. The president himself called Xi last Thursday night to see if the leader-to-leader dialogue would break the deadlock.
Leading the news: The new policy Biden announced Wednesday will make his strategy of making cake and eating in China even more unsustainable.
- The United States and the United Kingdom plan to help Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines as part of a trilateral security pact designed to “promote stability” in the Indo-Pacific.
- The official who discussed the plan with reporters said the president did not raise the association in specific terms when he spoke with Xi.
- The White House had previously said the phone call was intended to “establish railings” in the U.S.-China relationship and prevent “tough competition” from escalating into direct conflict.
What they say: “If our president tells President Xi that we want barriers and we want security mechanisms around military activities, but we increase the pressure on the military, this will probably put an end to any such discussion fairly quickly,” he said. Chris Johnson, a former senior CIA China analyst, told Axios.
What follows: The White House seeks to gather international support for new tariffs in response to China’s unfair use of industrial subsidies.
- He is also reportedly considering a request to allow Taiwan to change the name of its representative office in Washington, a symbolic step that would outrage Beijing.