Far-left American President Joe Biden is “desperately seeking talks with China on all fronts” to prevent an unforeseen controversy between Washington and Beijing from hurting his 2024 reelection bid, the Chinese state-run Global Times newspaper contended on Thursday.
The Global Times cited Chinese Communist Party-approved “expert” opinions asserting that Biden is concerned that Republicans will be able to make the case that they would manage the relationship with America’s top geopolitical adversary more responsibly, especially after significant percentages of Americans expressed disapproval of Biden’s handling of an invading Chinese espionage balloon over the continental United States in early 2023. Biden allowed the balloon, which China continues to insist was a civilian “meteorological” aircraft, to traverse the country from Montana to the Atlantic Ocean, flying over critical American military sites, before shooting it down.
A large balloon drifts above the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of South Carolina near Myrtle Beach, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023. Minutes later, the balloon was struck by a missile from an F-22 fighter jet, ending its weeklong traverse over the U.S. China said the balloon was a weather research vessel blown off course, a claim rejected by U.S. officials (Chad Fish via AP).
A poll released in March by the Convention of States Project/Trafalgar Group found that 63.4 percent of Americans believed Biden “mishandled” the balloon incident. Over half (58.8 percent) said they believed Biden “should have taken quicker action to shoot down” the balloon.
Biden also faces significant issues of confidence with the public on China relations following revelations of suspect business dealings between his family and Chinese officials. As reported in Breitbart News senior contributor Peter Schweizer’s Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win, the Biden family has profited to the tune of $31 million from five business deals in the country.
A separate Convention of States Action/Trafalgar Group survey taken in March found that 57.2 percent of Americans believed Biden has a “conflict of interest when responding to China’s aggressive actions against the U.S.”
The Global Times made its assessment following a parade of Biden administration officials marching into Beijing. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was the first, meeting with genocidal dictator Xi Jinping and several henchmen in late June. Last week, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen held several meetings in the Chinese capital focused on trade matters. On Sunday, special climate envoy John Kerry is expected to land in China to discuss cooperation on the “climate crisis.”
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, right, arrives at Beijing Capital International Airport as Yang Yingming, center, Director General of the Department of International Economic Relations of China’s Ministry of Finance, looks on, in Beijing, China, Thursday, July 6, 2023 (Pedro Pardo/Pool Photo via AP).
Chinese officials also expressed openness to a visit from Biden’s commerce secretary, Gina Raimondo, though no public information exists at press time about a scheduled visit by her.
The Global Times claimed American officials had not shown enough “sincerity” in seeking peaceful ties with China, complaining that American officials have not yet abandoned complaining about the ongoing genocide of Uyghurs and other Turkic people in East Turkistan, rampant slavery, organ harvesting, and other human rights atrocities – in addition to China’s systematic intellectual property theft, espionage, and belligerence against American allies in the South China Sea.
“China has shown its sincerity in meeting the US’ desperate demands for talks despite Washington not yet correcting its mistakes, which deeply harmed bilateral ties, Chinese experts said,” the state propaganda outlet claimed, continuing to cite those “experts” who concluded that Biden’s friendliness was a result of concerns over the presidential race at home.
“The reason why the Biden administration is desperately seeking talks with China on all fronts is that the White House wants to manage and stabilize the worsening ties with China,” the Global Times said, citing Renmin University “expert” Jin Canrong, “because if Biden wants to win next year’s presidential elections, he doesn’t want to see any extreme incident or even direct conflict occurs between the two countries.”
Jin also noted that Biden is scheduled to host the 2023 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference, which could serve as a pedestal to showcase his foreign policy acumen.
“Biden wants to use this chance to win credit for his reelection, and if he realizes another China-US summit in America, that would be key for him to proving that he has more capability than his Republican competitor in handling complicated ties with China,” Jin claimed.
The state newspaper concluded that “nice words are not enough” to make any meaningful improvement in American ties with China, and Beijing is preparing for “uncertainties” created by the American democratic system, which does not guarantee any one individual a monopoly on the executive office. Of particular concern is the lack of communication between the American and Chinese militaries – halted during the spy balloon incident – that leaves soldiers and sailors of both armed forces at risk of miscommunications in the areas where they operate near each other.
To address the issue, the Biden administration held a meeting between Assistant Secretary of Defense Ely Ratner and China’s ambassador to Washington, Xie Feng, which the Global Times described as “very rare and unusual.” Xie reportedly used the opportunity to demand Ratner concede all demands Beijing has made to the United States.
“The US should remove obstacles and manage differences with concrete actions, prudently handle important and sensitive issues such as the Taiwan question in accordance with the principles enshrined in the three China-US joint communiques,” the state newspaper quoted the ambassador as saying.
The “Taiwan question” is the fact that China demands all countries disregard the reality of the sovereignty of Taiwan, a nation off its eastern coasts. China considers Taiwan a rogue province legally under Beijing’s purview despite having no governmental, military, or other formal ties to Taipei. Taiwan has never in its history been governed by a state entity based in Beijing.
Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen speaks during a press conference on the seventh anniversary of her tenure, at the Presidential Office in Taipei on May 20, 2023 (SAM YEH/AFP via Getty Images).
China refuses to maintain any diplomatic relations with countries that recognize Taiwan’s sovereignty. The United States has not recognized Taiwan since the tenure of former President Jimmy Carter as a result of its desire to secure diplomatic ties with the Chinese Communist Party. Washington has, however, greenlit commerce with Taiwan, including weapons sales that Beijing aggressively objects to.
The Global Times noted in its coverage of the meeting between Xie and Ratner, as it did in its assessment of Biden’s “desperation,” that the American government “clearly initiated” that meeting out of a desire to restore some military communication. The lack of such communication, it concluded, was America’s fault entirely.