With Joe Biden in the White House, the People's Republic of China ("America's #1 Adversary") is on a winning streak. America's cold war with the PRC is a 12-round fight still in the early rounds. But the Chinese Communist Party and President Xi Jinping are certainly emboldened by President Biden's self-inflicted foreign policy disasters. The Afghanistan debacle proved Biden to be a weak and undependable ally. This perception has, in turn, opened the door to PRC aggression.
The PRC won the first round of the cold-war fight in 1972 when it made a secret deal with Pakistan to help them build and deploy nuclear weapons. The PRC won round two in 2018 by secretly agreeing to help the Iranian ayatollahs build nuclear weapons and the means of delivering them. Round three is just starting as the PRC maneuvers to take over Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan while simultaneously blocking trade with Australia to undermine that nation's mutual defense relationship with the United States.
An important question is this: Why is Biden acting like a subservient minion of Jinping? Is Biden a compromised president? Do the Chinese know something that could bring down Biden's presidency? What was said in the 90-minute telephone call between the presidents on Sept. 9, 2021? The White House described the call as "familiar" and "candid," but which president was familiar, and which was candid?
The telephone call obviously did nothing to tamp down the PRC's aggressive behavior. In fact, it looks like Jinping and the PRC might be going for the knockout punch in the next round of the fight: The hostile takeover of Taiwan. On Oct. 1, 2021, the PRC's People's Liberation Army Air Force dramatically increased violations of Taiwan's sovereign air space, sending waves of fighter and attack aircraft to probe the Republic of China's defenses and possibly incite an incident. In just four days, the PLAAF flew almost 150 sorties over the Taiwan Strait.
The PRC covets an excuse for launching a full-scale invasion of Taiwan and has since the island nation was established in 1949. Jinping has openly vowed to "reunify" Taiwan, by which he means subjugate this democratically governed nation and crush it under the hobnailed boots of the Chinese Communist Party. He has openly stated using military force to "reunify" Taiwan with the PRC is an acceptable option.
For more than seven decades, U.S. steadfast resolve to protect Taiwan's independence and sovereignty, with American military force, if necessary, has held the PRC at bay. Now, with Biden at the helm, that commitment is flaccid.
Consequently, when Jinping sends PLAAF aircraft into sovereign ROC airspace, it is testing more than Taiwan's air defense system; it is also testing America's will to intercede on behalf of the ROC. The ROC and its military know their nation cannot survive without the protection of the United States. The PRC also knows this. The big question, then, is: Can Taiwan survive with Biden in office, or will the PRC win this round, too?
Jinping surely remembers it was another feckless Democrat in the White House, Jimmy Carter, who threw Taiwan under the bus in 1979 by dropping America's recognition of the ROC and recognizing Communist China. Jinping and his politburo must see Biden's tenure in office as the best opportunity in 42 years to achieve their "one China" objective. Hence, the recent incursions into sovereign Taiwanese airspace by the PLAAF. Biden responded to these incursions with hollow warnings and empty words, but Jinping, like all bullies, responds only to demonstrated strength. Carefully crafted weasel words mean nothing to him.
Oliver L. North is a combat-decorated U.S. Marine, No.1 bestselling author, founder and CEO of Fidelis Publishing LLC and Fidelis Media LLC. Find out more about him at www.olivernorth.com. David Goetsch is a Marine Corps veteran, member of the Florida Veteran's Hall of Fame, professor of business, Christian counselor, and author of 77 books. Find out more about him at www.david-goetsch.com. Get the full story of China's threat in "America's #1 Adversary" at barnesandnoble.com or amazon.com.