SPECULUM VERUM
-The uproar over US President Joe Biden's recent statement about Chinese leader Xi Jinping as a "dictator who doesn't know that his spy balloons are flying over America" and which he personally (Biden) commanded the army to demolish, and which followed just one day after he optimistically assessed the future development of US-China relations in the context of the recently concluded visit of Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Beijing (a week today), which he assessed as successful.
I remind you that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the words of its spokeswoman Mao Ning, right after Biden's statement made at the pre-election rally in California, where funds were collected, a sharp protest was sent to the American side, calling Biden's words "obvious political provocation" and "absurd and irresponsible", and at the same time expressed China's "strong dissatisfaction and opposition".
It is no secret that the Biden administration wants to normalize relations with China to the extent that it suits American interests in terms of preventing the outbreak of mutual military incidents, but also in the continuation of trade cooperation in areas outside the sphere of high technology in which China is America's biggest global competitor 21. century.
We don't know what Biden's sudden escapade in California meant, but we know that quite a large number of influential Republicans strongly criticized Blinken's visit to Peking but (for a long time) and Biden's overall policy towards China, which one, to put it mildly, consider indulgent.
Biden, namely, except for commercial reasons, i.e. high American dependence on Chinese consumer goods and in the context of the current high inflation, by stabilizing American-Chinese relations, he wants to prevent the further strengthening of the alliance between China and Russia - aware of what this means for global geopolitical processes and power relations, i.e.. overall American interests in the world.
We also know that presidential elections are being held in the United States next year, so there can only be two things "at play" why Biden said what he said in California - which surprised many and angered the official Beijing (It's Beijing, although he can "swallow" various criticisms regarding his overall policy, traditionally very sensitive to statements of this type in relation to his high government officials).
Two reasons for Biden's unpleasant words
The first reason would be Biden's excessive pre-election "playfulness", when, often, for daily political purposes, he knows how to say what is not always meant - in the desire to be liked by the general public, i.e. the target electorate.
The second reason could be much more serious and mean that Biden recanted under pressure from the Republicans, that is, that his administration and pre-election team believe that the attempt to normalize relations with Beijing will cause more harm than good in terms of next year's elections.
Of course, always would, and the interests of American citizens should come first, ali, as well as more or less everywhere in the world, the interests of preserving or winning power have priority over the interests of the citizens themselves, and one should not be hypocritical about that. That's just the way it is. "zadane zakonitosti" result, and in fact the state of human consciousness from its beginnings to the present day, focused on power, greediness, ruling over others and other sins incompatible with caring for small and ordinary people who, as a rule, remain "crumbs from the master's table".
And that this second reason could prevail as the cause of Biden's unexpected insults at the expense of his Chinese colleague (let's specify, he did not mention him by name, but the entire context of Biden's words undoubtedly indicated who exactly he meant) witness the weekly interview of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for the CBS show "Face the Nation".
In it, Blinken stood by President Biden yesterday, on that occasion saying the following:
"The president always speaks honestly, speak directly. He speaks clearly and speaks for all of us."
The blink, which was normally received coldly in Beijing, i.e. diplomatically restrained, although in addition to Chinese colleagues from the sphere of foreign policy, he was also received personally by the leader of that country, Xi Jinping, after the media had previously discussed for a long time whether this would happen, in yesterday's interview, he made no effort at all to retract or tone down Biden's comments.
“The main purpose (Blinken's visit to Peking) was to bring greater stability to the relationship. We have an obligation, and I think China has an obligation to responsibly manage that relationship, to make sure that the deep differences we have do not escalate into conflict.” - said the US Secretary of State.
"But one of the things I said to my Chinese colleagues during this trip was that we will continue to do things and say things that you don't like, as you will, no doubt, keep doing and saying things we don't like."
None of the desired detente
So Blinken clearly has no remorse for Biden's words, which means that there is no respect for China's strong protest.
In such circumstances, a new summit at the top of the two leaders, like the one at the G20 summit last November in Bali (when moves were agreed which should lead to an improvement in relations and which prevented the shooting down of the Chinese balloon in February) it is impossible to expect.
It is also clear that no detente (de-escalation, or relaxation of tension) is not possible in the foreseeable future, at least not until the US election. Ai tada, only if the democratic candidate wins, because Republicans are a priori against it (at least the right wing).
For now, Joe Biden is the most likely candidate for the position of Democratic candidate, although there are others, the most serious of which seems to be Robert Kennedy Jr, 69-nephew of the assassinated American president John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
Many call it controversial, because, among other things, strongly criticizes Biden's policy towards Ukraine and Russia, but he also openly says that the truth about who killed his uncle will be revealed 1968. (and claims that they are American secret services, more precisely the CIA) come to light. Otherwise it is, as it is presented in the media, supporter of conspiracy theories, like the one from 2005. g. that certain vaccines are linked to autism.
Be that as it may, and however small his chances are in the primaries of the Democratic Party, the fact is that his popularity has recently started to grow. But it is still far from that of Biden, although it has fallen to the lowest levels in history for any US president since official tracking of such data has existed. Even below all the satanized Donald Trump at the end of his presidency.
That's why Biden's "antics" about China and relations with that mega-state are not surprising, the biggest global rival of the USA in 21. century in all segments.