Tipsheet

As Blinken Travels to China, Republicans Attack Biden's Failed Efforts to Show Up On the Global Stage

President Joe Biden's urgency to smooth things over with Communist China has taken the front seat as the U.S. struggles to stay afloat as the president's progressive policies wreak havoc on the nation.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is off to China this weekend to reconcile tensions between the countries after Biden shot down its surveillance balloon that had been circulating the U.S. for days. 

When the public got wind of its existence, Biden finally decided to take action. 

Despite Blinken's trip, House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) is threatening the Biden official with a subpoena should he fail to produce documents by Friday detailing the list of retaliatory actions the U.S. government has considered against China and when they were applied.

Republicans are accusing him of undermining national security by attempting to normalize diplomatic relations with Beijing. 

"The Biden administration's weak actions on the global stage continue to embolden the C.C.P.," Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) said, adding that Blinken's trip will "legitimize" the Chinese Communist Party's "continued subversion of our sovereignty."

In addition to the balloon incident, Stefanik pointed out several other cases of the C.C.P.'s influence on the U.S. She cited the Chinese purchase of land near U.S. military installations and news that Cuba allowed China to establish an electronic eavesdropping base on the island— which according to sources, the Biden Administration knew about this for some time. 

2024 presidential candidate Nikki Haley (R-SC) echoed her colleague's concerns, attacking Biden for his approach to Chinese dictators. 

"It's time to hold our enemy accountable. Every day we don't put America in greater danger," Haley wrote in an op-ed. 

In addition, Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss), along with 17 other Republicans, penned a letter to Biden demanding he releases information about China's surveillance program and to explain how the Chinese spy balloon was able to enter U.S. territory, what it was carrying, and what information the balloon was able to gather. 

The Republican officials argued that China— under the control of the C.C.P.— has increased threats to the U.S.'s national security, urging Biden to take more decisive action to protect the nation. 

"In addition to deploying a spy platform into U.S. territory, the [People's Republic of China] P.R.C. has conducted dangerous maneuvers against U.S. aircraft in the South China Sea and U.S. ships navigating international waters and continues to support Russia's brutal war against Ukraine, harass American companies operating in China, commit egregious human rights violations, all while threatening a free and democratic Taiwan," the letter reads. "We, therefore, call on you to stand up to Beijing's efforts to coerce the United States into silence on the P.R.C.'s violation of U.S. sovereignty and to release the F.B.I.'s findings on the P.R.C.'s spy balloon immediately."