Just a day before the Biden-Putin Summit, a US-based media outlet Cyberscoop, published a report which mentioned that the Russian government agencies were allegedly hacked by Chinese hackers. The timing of the report is extremely crucial as the two heads of state are reportedly willing to discuss cybersecurity issues. If so it will happen at the cost of China as it can now be clearly seen that both the states have been a victim of Chinese hacking. So is the Biden administration trying to drive a wedge between Russia and China by publishing a report on an issue that is going to be a core issue of discussion and cooperation?
This news comes as the world is witnessing a pivot in Biden’s attitude towards Russia. Given that the hacking report emerged just a day before the meet, it gives Putin more incentive and reason to cooperate with Biden to keep China in check. For Biden, this is a sharp departure from his initial approach to Russia.
Since Joe Biden assumed the oval office at the White House, one thing became very clear that, unlike his predecessor, he will take an extremely soft stance against China. The reasons were aplenty such as the Hunter Biden card. Biden, just like many other Democrat presidents before him, shifted the focus of the US foreign policy from China to counter threats from Russia. While in the past this would have made sense, but this time China is clearly the greater threat to the US and the world at large.
Focusing his foreign policy on Russia, Biden tried to insinuate conflict between the US and the former superpower. But far from their highs of power during the Soviet era, Russia politely declined the invitations. Ukraine, Iran, Iraq, Belarus, Human Rights issues, cybersecurity hacks and Alexei Navalny; Russia refused to trade pot-shots with the US even as Biden continued to threaten sanctions against it. Biden even tried to stir up trouble by calling the Russian President a “killer” live on national television.
At the same time, Biden’s domestic troubles had begun just a few weeks into his Presidency. His border policies were a failure, the transgender order faced massive backlash and the rising stimulus checks meant that inflation was on the rise. With all the domestic troubles impeding Biden, he needed an external distraction and the Russia angle was not quite working as well it has in the past.
But Biden could not have dared to antagonise China. The paper dragon held the Hunter Biden card which could have jeopardised the US President’s political career. His son Hunter Biden had massive business dealings with the Chinese state when Joe Biden was Vice-President during the Obama administration. The left-leaning mainstream media in the US did well to subdue the issue domestically and Biden placated China at the international stage. From getting soft on the Taiwan issue to almost justifying the Chinese actions in Xinjiang and then again almost rescinding the genocide tag over China’s treatment of Uighurs, Biden did well to keep China in his arms.
But back home his foreign policies became a constant subject of debate. A lack of bipartisan support meant that Biden was unable to push through with his domestic agenda and was unable to rouse up support among the Republicans due to his failure to target China.
But since the meeting between the heads of Russia and the US was announced, Biden seems to have a better grip on things. He has been more respectful towards Russia and refused to level allegations in one of the major cybersecurity attacks; the colonial gas pipeline even as it became clear that the attack was carried out from Russian soil. The change in Biden’s attitude towards Russia became even clearer when he lifted some sanctions on the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany. At the same time, Biden added a horde of Chinese companies to the list of companies in which the US companies and citizens cannot invest.
However, as the date for the meeting between the two heads of state comes closer, Biden seems to have realised that he has no option other than to cooperate with his Russian counterpart. He repeatedly tried to avoid conflict with Russia and at the same time called for cooperation between the two states. Putin had also realised that cooperation with the US would be fruitful for the Russian Federation as it will give it an upper hand in relation to Russia’s relations with China.
Observing the monumental shift which was happening in the US, Putin seized the opportunity and while the G-7 met in the UK, Putin told NBC’s Keir Simmons, “Well even now, I believe that former U.S. president Mr. Trump is an extraordinary individual, talented individual, otherwise he would not have become U.S. president.” Putin used some adulatory adjectives for Trump like “extraordinary”, “talented” and “colorful”. Incidentally, Donald J. Trump was well known for his hard stance against China. The decision to highlight Trump and his personality just before the meeting with Joe Biden was a signal to the Biden administration that if the US takes an anti-China stand, Russia is willing to co-operate.
It seems that the signal worked, and the US and Russia are apparently looking forward to cooperating, starting with subduing the cybersecurity threat. Biden must have realised that he would not be able to get an upper hand over Putin as the previous meeting had suggested as Biden’s mic was cut off and the lights were switched off, which forced him to take up Russia’s offer on cooperation.
It is a shift of epic magnitudes as within weeks the Biden administration has come a long way from trying to insinuate conflicts with Russia to now actively willing to co-operate. For Biden, the shift seems to have come due to his domestic troubles while Russia seeks to gain an upper hand to control the Chinese threat which sits right in its backyard.
