Tipsheet

Grenell Points to Example of Biden Already 'Dutifully Complying' with China's Demands

Leah Barkoukis
Leah Barkoukis  |  December 10, 2020 7:00 AM

Former Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell gave one example of how China is already successfully influencing Joe Biden.

Biden had been referring to the “Indo-Pacific” region as just that for the past two years, according to Bruno Maçães, the former Portuguese Europe Minister, rather than the CPP-preferred “Asia-Pacific.”

But two weeks ago, the Chinese newspaper Global Times was clear in “asking Biden to drop Indo Pacific and use Asia Pacific instead,” the author and senior fellow at the Hudson Institute pointed out. 

[T]he term of "Indo-Pacific" has been very rudely transformed into a geopolitical concept by the Trump administration. Though the term is often put after an adjective of "free and open," it is mostly used for China-targeted issues. The backbone of the Indo-Pacific concept is the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue between the US, Japan, India and Australia. Whenever they hold meetings or conduct military exercises, all media reports relate the events to China. There is no economic cooperation organization corresponding to "Indo-Pacific," but only the military exercises and intelligence cooperation agreements that have played a role among the four countries. Taiwan authorities have repeatedly vowed to become part of the "Indo-Pacific strategy," showing naked antagonistic ambitions.
 
 By forcibly replacing the term "Asia-Pacific" with the term "Indo-Pacific" over the past few years, Washington has sought to divide the region, promote an anti-China alliance, and create a geopolitical climate in which all countries in the region must take sides. (Global Times)

In no uncertain terms the paper says the Biden Team “should abandon Trump's reckless pursuit of the Indo-Pacific strategy, which runs counter to regional realities. They also should stop stirring up the region with the concept of the Indo-Pacific.” By failing to do so, they will “encounter opposition and barriers.”

“That is not what the Washington elites want to see,” the GT threatens. 

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In announcing Lloyd Austin as his Defense Secretary pick this week, Biden changed his tune.

“He is just as committed as I am to rebuilding and modernizing those alliances, from the Asia-Pacific to Europe and around the world,” Biden said in his speech.

Pointing to Maçães’s thread, Grenell said, “The Communists in China asked Joe Biden two weeks ago to change his messaging - and today he dutifully complied. I wonder if China has leverage over the Bidens?”