It's worth over emphasizing how President Joe Biden is so close with China's Xi Jinping, because Biden himself has. And yet it's worth wondering what good it's done in light of one recent example. As Reuters reported on Friday, "Pentagon chief unable to talk to Chinese military leaders despite repeated attempts."
President Biden shared during his first press briefing on March 25 that he's "known Xi Jinping for a long time. Allegedly by the time I left office as Vice President, I had spent more time with Xi Jinping than any world leader had..." While he acknowledged Xi Jinping "doesn’t have a democratic with a small D bone in his body," he added, "but he’s a smart, smart guy," with Biden pointing out that when he was elected, Xi Jinping "called to congratulate me."
No biggie. Just means more time for him to root out extremism in the military ??
— Slaphappy (@Slaphappy___) May 22, 2021
Have LeBron make a phone call. https://t.co/LM8P897cBL
— Kate Hyde (@KateHydeNY) May 22, 2021
Reuters opened by reporting that "U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has so far been unable to speak with China's top general despite multiple attempts to set up talks." The piece also quoted an anonymous official:
"The military relationship is strained, no question about that. It’s hard to know how much this is reflective of that strain as much as it is just Chinese intransigence," a U.S. defense official said.
"But we certainly want to have a dialogue. We just want to make sure we have a dialogue at the proper level," the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, added.
And, there was this painful reminder in closing that we have nothing to show for what pitiful efforts we have made:
While there have not been high level military talks since Biden took office in January, senior diplomats from the two countries met in Alaska in March. Those talks bristled with rancor and yielded no diplomatic breakthroughs.
As Matt and I covered, not only did that diplomatic effort, which included Secretary of State Antony Blinken himself, fail, but it subjected us to a lecture on race from the Chinese Communist Party, one of the greatest human rights abusers. It turns out they've gotten these talking points from us, though.
Where the Biden administration may claim 'success,' though, is likely to do with its pet project on the "climate crisis." Climate Czar John Kerry traveled to China last month to be able to focus on this issue, even saying that it was very important for the two countries to "try to keep those other things away," with those "other things" meaning human rights abuses, as I reported last month.
However, revelations that for China to cut carbon emissions would be risky for parts of the country has us pessimistic that the CCP will stick to assurances they'll do so.
In a column for Townhall, Danielle Butcher warned that "The U.S. Should Not Count on China’s Climate Goals."
President Biden has not fared much better with North Korea or Iran, either, as even CNN analyst Stephen Collinson wrote in March.
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