Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to the media after talks between the US and China in Anchorage, Alaska, on March 19th.
Photo:
pool / Reuters
This was a language that attacked a senior Chinese official handed over last week in Anchorage to top officials of the Biden Administration at its first meeting. This is the new reality of US-China relations, as opponents seek to see if they can exploit President Biden as Barack Obama did.
The two parties had agreed on two minutes of initial statements each. Secretary of State Antony Blinken maintained his brief and hospitable nature, although he said the United States has “deep concerns about China’s actions, including in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, cyberattacks on the “The United States and economic coercion toward our allies. Each of these actions jeopardizes the rule-based order that maintains global stability.”
Chinese Foreign Commission Director Yang Jiechi made a 20-minute tear (including translation) over the superiority of “Chinese-style democracy” and the sins of America. The latter included a reference to the issue of black lives, human rights issues, and that the United States “has exercised jurisdiction and suppression of the long arm and extended national security through the use of force or hegemony. financial “.
Yang added: “Therefore, we believe that it is important for the United States to change its own image and stop advancing in its own democracy to the rest of the world. In fact, many people in the United States have little confidence in the democracy of the United States. ”As we have noted, the Chinese like to echo the criticism of the United States in the media.
Blinken responded that the U.S. “recognizes our imperfections, recognizes that we are not perfect, makes mistakes, has investments, takes steps back,” but then we move forward again. This is true enough, but unnecessarily defensive after the public assault of a foreigner on U.S. interests and values.
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This is just a meeting, but it was a tone marker for the most important bilateral relationship in the world. It is rumored that private exchanges on the Chinese side were as harsh as public statements. The Chinese make it clear that after the Trump years, Beijing wants to return to Obama’s accommodation policy to China’s global advances.
This means weak objections to China’s intellectual and cyber property theft. It means ending US policy of building an alliance of democracies in Asia that counteracts Chinese aggression. And most of all, it means ending criticism or sanctions against China for violating its treaty with Britain over Hong Kong, threatening an invasion of Taiwan, or imprisoning Uighers in Xinjiang’s re-education camps.
In its first two months, the Biden administration has been strong in its rhetoric about all this. Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan orchestrated a series of well-conducted meetings with Indo-Pacific allies before the Anchorage meeting. They also reached an agreement on financing the deployment of U.S. troops in South Korea.
But the real challenge will be its response to the aggressive designs of Beijing, Moscow and Tehran opponents. The tough men in these capitals remember how they were able to move forward when Mr. Biden’s liberal internationalists were the last to come to power under Mr. Obama. Russia took Crimea, invaded eastern Ukraine and moved to Syria. China snatched islands for military bases in the South China Sea and stole U.S. secrets with impunity. Iran spread terrorism through representatives throughout the Middle East and had John Kerry make the nuclear deal.
These regional powers are looking to see if this new US administration is Obama II. Tehran’s renewed courtship to return to the failed 2015 nuclear deal is a sign of weakness. Vladimir Putin will surely take action against American interests in response to Biden’s affirmative response last week to a question about whether the Russian is a “killer.”
The biggest test will be China, which is growing with confidence that it has the strategic advantage over the declining United States. If you don’t believe it, read Mr. Yang’s comments in Anchorage. The thinking of the current powers in Beijing does not resemble that of the Soviet Union in the 1970s, when American decadence was in vogue and communists were trying to advance around the world. Except that today China has much more economic strength.
Taiwan’s future may be the toughest challenge. As a global semiconductor production site, the island is crucial to the economic interests of the United States, as well as being a democratic ally. Chinese President Xi Jinping has made it clear that retaking Taiwan is a priority and that China’s military is building a force capable of rapid invasion. Xi will be eager to exchange promises on climate change for U.S. acquiescence on Taiwan.
This is a dangerous time, as the rogue powers of the world are trying to test the resolution of the Biden Administration. The Anchorage conference is a warning that needs to be taken seriously.
Journal Editorial Report: A Radical Way to Pass the Progressive Agenda. Image: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
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It appeared in the March 22, 2021 print edition.