While all eyes are fixed on the dubious efforts to pursue criminal charges against former president Donald Trump in New York, his successor Joe Biden continues to be humiliated by Communist China in the international arena.
POLITICO, a U.S.-based, German-owned, left-wing outlet, reports that Beijing has “ghosted” the 80-year-old Democrat since the infamous spy balloon incident in February – proving there really was no upside to standing idly by for days while it gathered information from military bases in real-time before belatedly ordering a shootdown.
Citing official sources “granted anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic issues”, POLITICO reports the Chinese have been “pressing back particularly hard” against efforts to set up a call between Biden and Xi Jinping.
They have also been giving Secretary of State Antony Blinken the “cold shoulder” as he struggles to reschedule a visit to Beijing.
The formerly two-way Sino-American relationship, the report suggests, is now characterised by what is politely described as “Washington reaching out and the Chinese government demurring” – in other words, the Middle Kingdom is giving an increasingly desperate Biden the middle finger.
Indeed, despite being no great friend to the Trump administration, POLITICO concedes that “[g]etting the Chinese to stay in regular, meaningful communication has been a challenge for the administration since Biden took office” – and further concedes that “even when there are communications, they have often produced little substance,” and that officials “crave higher-level contacts, especially with Xi” – a humiliating position for what is supposed to be the world’s sole superpower.
But while Biden’s officials complain to insider journalists about their diplomatic failures with respect to China behind a cloak of anonymity, the Chinese have no qualms about scorning American overtures openly.
“Communication should not be carried out for the sake of communication,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters last month, admonishing that the “U.S. side should show sincerity” and “work with China to take concrete actions to help bring China-U.S. relations back to the right track.”
France Looks East.
Emmanuel Macron, the embattled globalist President of France, appears to see the writing on the wall for American influence in the Biden era, joining a delegation to Beijing including the European Union’s technocrat-in-chief, Ursula von der Leyen, and dozens of corporate executives on Wednesday.
“We hear increasingly loud voices expressing a strong concern about the future of relations between the West and China that in some form lead to the conclusion that there is an inescapable spiral of mounting tensions,” Macron said at the French embassy.
“I do not believe, in any case I do not want to believe, in this scenario,” he declared, expressing his hope that China can “play a major role” in securing peace in Ukraine – despite Xi and Putin having recently announced a “no limits friendship” and Chinese officials declaring America “the real threat to the world” in the days immediately following the Russian invasion.
The grovelling posture of the Frenchman is clearly driven in part by economic considerations, with the former banker saying he expects “several major deals” between French and Chinese companies to be announced during his time in Beijing, on the back of his officials having already said that Airbus may be able to secure more Chinese business on top of a previous order for 300 aircraft in 2019.
The Reuters news agency has noted that such “ostentatious deal-signing” may appear “opportunistic”, given the “growing distrust of China in the United States”. Rhodium Group analyst Noah Barkin is cited as saying the agreements “would essentially be a vote of confidence in the Chinese economy and send the message that France is not on board with the U.S. approach.”
Evidently, the French do not fear sending such negative signals to the White House under Biden. Indeed, Chinese and French companies have in recent days brokered a first-of-its-kind deal involving tens of thousands of tons of Arab gas which will be bought and sold in Chinese yuan, dealing a heavy blow to the American-led petrodollar system of trade.
Donald Trump, while speaking out against the ‘lawfare’ campaign against him at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Tuesday, felt compelled to address the situation, saying the “crashing” dollar “will soon no longer be the world’s standard, which will be our greatest defeat, frankly, in 200 years.”
“There will be no defeat like that. That will take us away from being even a great power,” he lamented.
Trump also addressed America’s diminished geopolitical position under Biden more broadly, observing that “Russia has joined with China [and] Saudi Arabia has joined with Iran. China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea have formed together as a menacing and destructive coalition.”
“It would’ve never happened if I were your President,” he said.
