“He’s very bright. He’s very tough.” Biden literally went head over heels for the Chinese President Xi Jinping while speaking with CBS anchor Norah O’Donnell on “Face the Nation.” Till now, it was well-known that Biden won’t be a China hawk-like Trump. But it is the first time that Biden has showered praise upon the Chinese President and Beijing’s authoritarianism.
Referring to Xi, Biden said that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader doesn’t have a “democratic small ‘D’ bone in his body.” But the US President was careful here and clarified that he didn’t “mean it as a criticism”. So, Biden doesn’t mind that Xi is a ruthless dictator. As if showering praise upon the Chinese President wasn’t enough, Biden ended up disclosing his plan to revive Sino-American bonhomie.
Biden made it clear that he plans to handle China very differently from his predecessor, Donald Trump. The Trump administration led the global backlash against China but Biden doesn’t even consider Beijing an enemy. And Biden seems elated that the Chinese President knows that because he has been “sending signals, as well.”
The US President has no problems in establishing contact with China. He even said, “Well, we haven’t had occasion to talk to one another yet.” He added, “There’s no reason not to call him (Xi Jinping).”
Biden then expressed a deep sense of pride about how he has a close, personal relationship with the tough guy- Xi Jinping. The US President claimed that he knew Xi “pretty well” after working as Obama’s wingman for eight years. Biden added, “I’ve probably spent more time with Xi Jinping I’m told than any world leader has.”
Biden is actually ensuring that Beijing realises how he has no plans to flare up the US-China rivalry. The US President said, “The question is, I’ve said to him all along, that we need not have a conflict.”
He added, “But there’s gonna be extreme competition. And I’m not going to do it the way he knows. And that’s because he’s sending signals as well. I’m not gonna do it the way Trump did. We’re gonna focus on international rules of the road.”
So, basically, Biden has envisaged a US-China relationship that will have no conflicts. The Chinese military forces can violate human rights in occupied regions like Xinjiang and Tibet, but the US President will stay silent because he doesn’t want conflict with China. Yes, Biden does want “extreme competition” but with that stand, he is on the verge of making the US and China partners who also have a sense of healthy competition between them.
Biden has bent before the Chinese President Xi Jinping quite unabashedly. With Biden, Washington seems to be leaving the global leadership for countering Beijing and now the rest of the democratic world will have to take on China without the American backing.
