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54037
From: ryan, [DNS_Address]
Subject: China’s hostile welcome for Blinken
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China’s hostile welcome for Blinken highlights its out-of-control hubris by Gordon G. Chang, opinion contributor - 04/27/24 11:00 AM ET U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has just wrapped up his three-day visit to China. Despite his hopeful words, it does not appear he made substantive progress on core issues. No surprise for the apparent lack of success. For one thing, Beijing had signaled that talks would be difficult. Earlier in the week, China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy launched a JL-2 intercontinental ballistic missile from a nuclear-powered submarine. The JL-2 is designed to deliver a one-megaton nuclear warhead. The launch was ostensibly connected to the Chinese Navy’s 75th anniversary celebration, but observers saw the event as a warning to the U.S. The launch occurred just two days before Blinken touched down in Shanghai for the trip to that city and Beijing, his second visit to China in a year. Beijing prominently displays these missiles, carried in rows of flat-bed trucks, in military parades, even going so far as to adorn them with “JL-2” markings that appear to be for parade purposes only. The missile was not the only unfriendly sign, however. At the moment, Beijing does not appear to be in any mood to have meaningful conversations with Washington, even America’s top diplomat. For one thing, the Chinese regime is exceedingly full of itself. Xi Jinping, for years, has been promoting the notion that “the East is rising, the West is declining.” Recently, he has even been propagating the line that he’s already in charge of the world. “Change is coming that hasn’t happened in 100 years,” the Chinese leader said to Vladimir Putin in March 2023. “And we are driving this change together.” Unfortunately, the Biden administration’s policies have reinforced this perception of Chinese strength because America’s repeated attempts to promote dialogue feed Beijing’s already inflated sense of self-importance. A Monday report by the Global Times noted that visits from Blinken and other U.S. officials “indicate that Washington is unable to solve domestic and global issues without cooperation from China.” What Biden intends as friendly gestures are interpreted in the Chinese capital as signs of America’s perception of its weakness, which means Chinese officials think they have a veto over at least some of Washington’s policies. Reciprocity, unfortunately, does not work with China’s Communists, who look like they are becoming even more arrogant. Moreover, Beijing sees the Western democracies as feeble because they are divided, especially on Ukraine, a focus of Blinken’s visit that he highlighted before his latest China visit. “We see China sharing machine tools, semiconductors, other dual-use items that have helped Russia rebuild the defense industrial base that sanctions and export controls had done so much to degrade,” Blinken said in Italy on the 19th. “China can’t have it both ways,” he continued. “It can’t purport to want to have positive, friendly relations with countries in Europe and at the same time be fueling the biggest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War.” But Beijing undoubtedly thinks it can have both. Steve Yates, chair of the America First Policy Institute’s China Policy Initiative, told me German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s visit to Beijing “gravely undermined any notion Blinken hopes to sell that the West will stand unified in imposing sanctions should China continue to aid Russia’s military assault on Ukraine.” “After significantly expanding trade with Russia since the invasion, blunting the impact of sanctions and helping replenish military capabilities, Europe’s anchor state warmly embraced China’s leader with unchanged hopes for expanded trade and economic opportunities,” Yates added. Unfortunately, the Biden administration has also been undermining Blinken. Reuters reported Tuesday that the U.S. has “no plan to roll out sanctions on China’s banks in the near-term,” which would be the most effective measures at Washington’s disposal. An anonymous Biden administration source said, “Officials hope that diplomacy will avert the need for such action.” Biden has been warning Beijing about providing “lethal aid” to Russia since almost the beginning of the conflict, but, as Blinken’s comments indicate, China has persisted. And now Washington has reportedly signaled it does not intend to do anything meaningful about the Chinese support. Why the reluctance? Because there is still hope that America can work with China. That’s not realistic, however. Administration officials and other Americans have not wanted to acknowledge that China and Russia are acting together to destabilize the international system. Yet neither Beijing nor Moscow has been bashful about the nature of the relationship, for instance declaring their “no-limits” partnership in their 5,300-word joint statement just 20 days before Russia invaded Ukraine. Beijing, in anticipation of Blinken’s visit, had been telling Washington that its support for the Russian war effort was none of America’s business. “The Ukrainian issue is not an issue between China and the United States, and the United States should not turn it into an issue between China and the United States,” a Chinese foreign ministry official said on Tuesday. A comment on social media by Hu Xijin, the former Global Times editor is a stronger indication of China’s dismissive attitude toward Blinken. On Wednesday, Hu called Blinken’s visit to China “imploring.” Blinken received a cold welcome in Shanghai. There was no red carpet, Hu pointed out. No senior Chinese official bothered to go to the airport to greet him. And then there was an unmistakable sign of disrespect for Secretary Blinken and the country he represents: The launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Gordon G. Chang is the author of “The Coming Collapse of China” and “China Is Going to War.” Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @GordonGChang. |
Responses:
[54039] [54043] [54048] [54050] [54051] [54053] [54038]
54039
From: akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Gordon Chang, opinion contributor
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Gordon G. Chang: China will continue to humiliate Antony Blinken until he no longer accepts it. How long will he continue to accept vassal status? Indo-Pacific News - Geo-Politics & Defense: Humiliation: Blinken departed China and only the US ambassador said farewell at the airport.😩 Not a single Chinese official came.😖 The lowest of the low in international diplomacy etiquette, reflecting the condition of US China relations.😪 Even when he arrived to Beijing, he was only greeted by a low-level official and US embassy staff.🥵 |
54043
From: ao, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Gordon Chang, opinion contributor
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Another twit? Oh my.. Elon must get so excited! |
54048
From: Redhart, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Gordon Chang, opinion contributor
| yeah...moving on.. |
54050
From: akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: author of Bopp's article
| keep mooing on! |
54051
From: old timer, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: author of Bopp's article
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i’m confused. you posted something from the same author as bopp that seemed to agree with what he shared, then ao trolled you because it was twitter then red piled on? too funny |
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[54053]
54053
From: akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: author of Bopp's article
| stop trying to think rationally. It'll drive you insane with these people. |
Responses:
None
54038
From: ryan, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: China’s hostile welcome for Blinken
URL: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4623990-blinken-china-2024-election-influence/
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Blinken: China seeks to ‘influence and arguably interfere’ with US elections by Laura Kelly - 04/26/24 12:01 PM ET Share Post The Biden administration has seen evidence of attempts by China to influence the upcoming U.S. elections, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview with CNN published Friday. Blinken, who is wrapping up a three-day visit to China, said he raised in his meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other officials that any interference in the U.S. election is “totally unacceptable.” Such action would mark a violation of commitments Xi made to President Biden when the two leaders met in November in Woodside, Calif., a watershed meeting aimed at stabilizing deep mistrust and competition between the U.S. and China. “We have seen, generally speaking, evidence of attempts to influence and arguably interfere, and we want to make sure that that’s cut off as quickly as possible,” Blinken told CNN when asked if Xi had violated the Woodside commitments. Blinken did not address any specific evidence of Chinese election interference, and he did not say that the Chinese government had violated the commitment Xi had made to Biden. But The New York Times reported in early April that covert Chinese accounts are masquerading as supporters of former President Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. These accounts are also promoting conspiracy theories, stoking domestic divisions and attacking Biden ahead of the election in November. “Any interference by China in our election is something that we’re looking very carefully at and is totally unacceptable to us, so I wanted to make sure that they heard that message again,” Blinken said he told Xi and other Chinese officials. In addition to Xi, Blinken met with senior Chinese officials, including China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong, and Shanghai Party Secretary Chen Jining. Blinken’s trip was aimed at building on and maintaining open lines of communication with Chinese officials amid tense relations between Washington and Beijing. Blinken said he brought with him the message of the importance of keeping open lines on military-to-military channels to avoid conflict, to make progress on counternarcotics cooperation, and to increase people-to-people ties. The trip ended with no new announcements on cooperation. Blinken said his trip occurred “at a time of profound tension between our countries” and “with the aim of stabilizing the relationship, reopening and strengthening our high-level channels of communication.” |
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