Biden eases relations with China is high risk, low reward

Comment207

As he kicks off his reelection campaign, President Biden is doubling down on his push for economic engagement with Beijing. Seeking such dialogue makes political sense, but it risks lifting U.S. pressure on China without achieving real gains in return.

Biden begins his run for president in a chaotic political environment. The Ukraine war slogs on, the U.S. economic recovery is sitting on a knife's edge, and Americans are hurting from inflation. Regarding China, there is tension between Biden’s interest in maintaining a tough stance and his desire to slow the rapid descent of the relationship. Meanwhile, China courts European allies in an attempt to isolate Washington.

Officials tell me that Biden seeks another meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to follow up on their confab last November in Bali, Indonesia. But the strategic-engagement track has been frozen ever since Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s planned trip was scuttled by the spy balloon incident in February. At this point, Xi won’t even accept a phone call from the American president. But his government has told the Biden administration that it wants to resume economic discussions. This has provided an opening for Biden’s economic officials to step forward.

At an April 6 meeting of Biden’s top national security officials, known as the principals committee, several argued in favor of economic engagement with Beijing. The following week, two senior Commerce Department officials visited Beijing and Shanghai, in part to feel out a possible trip by Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo this year.

Then, last week, in a speech on China at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen reiterated her desire to travel to Beijing “at the appropriate time.” She hopes to establish substantive dialogue to “lay the groundwork for responsibly managing our bilateral relationship,” she said.The U.S. should beware of the Beijing-Moscow axis

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But it would be a huge concession to the Chinese government — and would represent a de facto shift in U.S. strategy — if either Yellen or Raimondo were to go to Beijing before Blinken reschedules his trip. Yellen’s speech, while affirming national security concerns, contained a clear message for Xi: Engage on economics, and relations can improve.

“Negotiating the contours of engagement between great powers is difficult,” she said. “And the United States will never compromise on our security or principles. But we can find a way forward if China is also willing to play its part.”

Spokespeople from the White House and Treasury and Commerce departments told me that economic engagement with Beijing has always been a goal; there’s been no shift in strategy. But several other officials told me that public declarations of unity mask a growing tension inside the administration about the policy direction.

Chinese leaders clearly believe that dealing with Yellen rather than Blinken is better for them. Yellen has repeatedly argued for lowering tariffs on China. Treasury officials reportedly persuaded the White House to narrow restrictions on outbound investment to China. A long-delayed executive order to make this happen will probably not cover large areas of American economic vulnerability, including clean-energy technology and biotechnology.

Many national security officials see weaknesses in Biden’s strategy to apply economic pressure on China. For example, an earlier plan to investigate China’s abuse of government subsidies has been dropped. And six months after the administration announced new technology export restrictions on China, final rules to carry out those limits have yet to be released. If the administration has any serious plan to address China’s abuse of U.S. capital markets, it’s a closely held secret.

Raimondo, for her part, has taken a relatively tough stance on China. She has, for instance, championed legislation to reinvigorate American semiconductor manufacturing. But she also has political ambitions, and a trip to Beijing would bolster her foreign policy bona fides.

To be sure, raising economic pressure on China in the current environment would carry its own risks. In fact, some observers praise Biden’s “course correction,” while others point out that outreach is unlikely to produce results because the administration is not prepared to concede to Beijing’s demands to back off on tariffs, technology restrictions and bans on products made with forced labor.

Officials emphasize that the purpose of a Yellen or Raimondo trip would be to discuss macroeconomic issues rather than to negotiate any specific agreement. Expectations for substantive progress would be low. But if so, why go at all?

Beijing’s pattern has long been to lure American administrations into economic dialogues that go nowhere, but that end up delaying U.S. action to hold China accountable for its unfair trade practices. There’s no reason to fall for this ploy yet again.

Yes, the United States should seek engagement and competition with China simultaneously. But Beijing is trying to force Biden to prioritize the former over the latter. The problem with going along is that until the United States addresses China’s economic aggression, it can expect neither fair competition nor security.

207 Coments

Another dumb piece by the Post's designated China-basher. Rogin is relentlessly negative on everything China, but somehow never seems to get around to making constructive suggestions. So I'll make a couple (based on several decades of study and work in and on China).

First, we can't ignore China. It's much too big, much too important, and the rest of the world won't follow our lead. We have to engage, or we will be sidelined.

Second, China is neither a friend or an enemy. It's a partner in some crucial areas such as climate change, a combination of partner and competitor in economic terms, a rival for global influence, and a potential adversary in military terms. Dealing with China is inevitably complex.

Third, China is changing in a number of ways simultaneously. Xi Jinping is trying to revive aspects of Maoism, and certainly reversing decades of reform, but whether that will actually work is very much an open question. At the same time, China is aging rapidly. Its days as the low-cost workshop of the world are ending, and it will have huge problems supporting its burgeoning senior population with a shrinking workforce.

Fourth, while it is entirely possible that we may end up in armed conflict with China, we should not make this more likely by treating it as inevitable. There's been a lot of talk recently about China having more Navy ships than the US. That's been true since the 1970s. Quantity does not equal quality.

Finally, we should base all of our dealings with China on the bedrock premise that, whatever our differences with the PRC government, we are not hostile to the Chinese people or to the return of China to the front rank of nations. We fought WWII largely to keep Japan from dominating China. It was the US that insisted China be one of the five permanent members of the Security Council (long before it had nuclear weapons). The PRC government wants its people to forget these facts; we should not help obscure them.

E-RadRunner

1 week ago

Only way to deal with China is by continuing to decouple, recognition of Taiwan, and undoing the tentacles that China has reaching the US.

moore_te

1 week ago

Not much decoupling is happening, and we cannot afford to disengage from the largest market in the world, a major technology leader in some areas, and major producer of what we consume.

Reality bites.

E-RadRunner

1 week ago

Decoupling is well on its way, don't let the current deficit fool you. The numbers from future trends of trade with China are scary for the CCP. American companies are frightened of doing business in China, simply there is too much uncertainty and lack of rule of law.

Look at the mood in businesses now, very different from pre-pandemic.

Poppa Gander

1 week ago

It is beyond absurd/naive to call China a partner in climate change. They have been madly building coal power plants for the last couple of decades, and continue to do so, licensing two new plants per week in 2022. https://energyandcleanair.org/publication/china-permits-two-new-coal-power-plants-per-week-in-2022/

They burn six times the coal as the rest of the world combined.

If you have lived there, and speak Chinese, you are aware that China relentlessly demonizes the U.S. as a malevolent force in the world. If there is a pressure making armed conflict inevitable, it is the PRC's irresponsible rhetoric and actions in the South China Sea and aggression towards Taiwan.

The PRC simply can't be taken at their word, or trusted to act in accord with it. As long as it is the overwhelming force oppressing the Chinese people and pillaging the world's oceans, engaging in reckless resource exploitation, and threatening the sovereignty of its neighbors it is impossible to welcome China back into the civilized world.

Poppa Gander

1 week ago

That should be more than the rest of the world combined, not six times.

Skier99

1 week ago

It is really the Chinese Communist Party, under dictator Xi Jinping that is behind this. China has been ruled by dictators (formerly called "emperors") for thousands of years. Except for a brief experiment with democracy in the early 20th century, China has returned to its familiar, comfortable pattern.

But autocracies become ingrown and malignant, starved of open thinking. Chinese dynastic history shows this over and over. As happened when Mao died, the Chinese people will at some point again rise up and throw the dictators out. Then the USA can perhaps reengage with China. Let's hope it happens soon.

We don't need war over Taiwan; that would empower China's warmongers. Let's just keep up steady political and military pressure emphasizing our strengths: personal freedom, human rights, freedom in the so-called "South China Sea" and honesty in international affairs and trade.

htklun

1 week ago

To say China’s reliance on coal in the past 2 decades disqualify their importance to combat climate change is like saying the US isn’t serious about climate change because they keep passing laws that favor Big Oil - from drilling in ANWR to rolling back car emission standards in every GOP administration.

But to engage your point about coal power, you do realize they are dismantling old, even-more-polluting coal power plants and replacing them with these newer ones? And do you know China produces more solar power than Germany, one of the greenest countries in Europe? So let’s set the record straight and separate the reason not to trust China in geopolitical matters vs engaging China in economic and global welfare issues.

Containing China’s geopolitical ambition does not mean getting them disconnected from the Western Hemisphere’s economic ecosystem. Doing so will just encourage China to double down on its geopolitical realignment with Russia and the Middle East. China’s overt attempt to drive an economic wedge between the US and European allies (and judging from reaction to vists from Macron and Schultz, reasonably successful too) puts the US in a position where China has all the leverage and US none. Escalating economic isolationism risks not just cutting China off from the rest of the world, but also cut off whatever economic pulse you can still find in Europe as the Ukraine war and inflation cripples them. That’s why you see all these European heads of state getting the red carpet treatment in Beijing.

The US has never been shy in dealing with onerous autocrats before, so the moral outrage over China’s oppression of its people rings hollow to those local Chinese who find it far easier to buy the story of US being a source of global instability for decades. They don’t really need CCP propaganda to buy it hook, line, and sinker, they have CNN’s coverage of Iraq and Afghanistan to do it for Xi.

Phil in Chicago

1 week ago

That's not true. First, they don't burn six times as much coal as the rest of the world, though they do burn almost as much as the rest of the world combined. And while they are building new coal plants, their emissions are simultaneously FALLING, because their newer plants are cleaner and more efficient. In fact, I happen to know about a joint venture with a company here in Chicago that collects carbon emissions from coal plants and converts them to everything from jet fuel to clothing to artificial flavorings. Isn't this what we want to do? Develop cleaner technologies and sell them to the rest of the world?

Mary Sampson

1 week ago

Unfortunately, Xi’s policies are terrible for China’s economy. It’s almost impossible to maintain a growing economy when the population is under state control. I worked in Shanghai & several of the Chinese tech workers I know have or are leaving

trblmkr1

1 week ago

Xi Jinping is trying to revive aspects of Maoism, and certainly reversing decades of reform, but whether that will actually work is very much an open question.

It is Xi and his CCP that has abandoned “engagement.” The shift actually began a few years before Xi, with the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize incident.

Khmera

1 week ago

Sorry but I missed the China bashing part.

The Lady Panc Ashash

1 week ago

You make excellent points. 100%.

MirroredShades

1 week ago

How did 'curmudgeon' get so many 'likes'.... ?

Rogin wasn't bashing anyone. Rather I found his analysis balanced and informative.

Is curmudgeon just another troll ?

Winston III

1 week ago

I trust Yellen a lot more than Rogin.

You can either feed the CCP hawks or the CCP doves. The greatest threat from China is not the present; it's the trajectory of their future. If the hawks get more feedings (Biden was wrong to abandon strategic ambiguity on Taiwan) that will make the future trajectory less favorable.

Why? Because China is at the peak of its economic power. They spend a much smaller proportion of their GDP that we do on military. If they get enough incentive from the USA now, they can spend much more on their military.

If we feed the doves now, then in the future when China's economic house of cards comes down, the hawks won't have as much to spend.

gr8danedoc

1 week ago

China's economy is a lot weaker than our news reports.

E-RadRunner

1 week ago

Wrong, China's spending is on par with the US plus they are limited to their region in the S.China Sea.

Love how some people are just willing to throw 21 million Taiwanese to the wolves as if they have no rights.

moore_te

1 week ago

We have no responsibility to defend them. We have turned them into a porcupine and now it is up to them.

E-RadRunner

1 week ago

Who said anything about defending them? That's straight up Chinese propaganda. The US has no desire to send troops to Taiwan, the regional powers of Japan and Korea are there and they can help. Taiwan is more than capable of defending itself with our help arming their capable armed forces.

Winston III

1 week ago

Taiwanese have had half a century to leave that island off the coast of China. Their laziness is not our emergency. If they really hated the thought of the 2nd most powerful military on the planet crossing the Taiwan Straits, they would have left already.

E-RadRunner

1 week ago

SMH, have some shame wumao.

Active Germ-line Replicator

1 week ago

When Biden and Yellen do it it's "economic engagement" with China. When Macron does it it's high treason against the West...

ruralPA

1 week ago

Macron is protecting France's interest B/C he scores more than 300 airbus orders worth $100B USD millions jobs. and those $3000 USD LV bags, $900 pair shoes are selling like hot cakes in Shanghai. Brazel, SA, Italy and Spain are hungry with China market. It is in their own economic interest...

moore_te

1 week ago

The author was right when he said we have to keep talking. Everything else he said is mostly speculation on his part.

YourWorstFears

1 week ago

We just need to get all of our businesses out of China and India and move them to the USA and rest of the America Continent. They will behave after and beg for us to come bag. Our answer at that time should be you lost your opportunity.... bye!

ruralPA

1 week ago

Let's begin with Apple! Like Trump said "ban Apple products" till Tim apple moves all productions to America - preferably PA. Ban Tesla Shanghai model 3 imports till Musk moves productions to U.S. Ban all made-in-China imports.

Cut Chain off SWIFT system and ban China owns USD. Freeze China assets and cancel Chinese owned US bonds then stop paying their bonds interest...

Mary Sampson

1 week ago

I guess you old guys want a depression. We do not have the capacity to bring all these industries to North America anytime soon.

buzzva

1 week ago

You really want to kiss a market as large as China goodbye? Good luck finding companies to support you.

zeemanchu

1 week ago

"unfair trade practices". What an oxymoron statement. By definition if we trade that means it is a win-win, other why trade? Rogin, I will give you a simple example. I give you $100 and you give me the keys to your car. Most likely you will not "trade" because it is "unfair". But then if you wanted to get the junk out of your driveway you will "trade". Hence, a win-win. Nobody put a gun to Apple to be there, or Tesla, GM, etc etc. So please spare me about "unfair trade". It is just more China bashing .

Mick275

1 week ago

We are China's biggest customer. China is our biggest, most reliable source of cheap labor and goods. Neither side is going to do anything to upset that mutually beneficial apple cart

Phrogtasm

1 week ago

A rational point of view contradicted by history. Prior to WWI, both Brit and German businessmen correctly claimed a war would be terrible for business. Therefore, they concluded, there would be no war. It seems politics is not always -- nay, not often nearly that rational.

gr8danedoc

1 week ago

I think the best place to start is to determine what's really going on with China's economy and Josh doesn't address that at all.

Is China still a "threat" or is it an economy that's peaked? It might be the former. I suspect that India is the new hotspot.

For instance, in 2009 China's GDP growth was 10%. Last year, it eked out an anemic 3% (the lowest growth since 1976). It wasn't just the lockdown, China's growth had been dropping steadily since 2009. This year, they set their target for 5.5%, they didn't hit it in the first quarter.

After 16 months, China is still trying to stabilize it's housing market. It does appear to be turning around, but it's still way over extended.

China's college graduates, who typically hold strong STEM degrees, are facing a 22% unemployment rate. This is approx double of what it was in 2009.

China's belt and road initiative may be an expensive bust. It sounded like a great idea: lend money to poor countries to build infrastructure in exchange for natural resources. Then the pandemic hit and most of those countries spent the infrastructure money on the pandemic. Now there's no infrastructure and those roads/bridges/airports/ports were needed to move natural resources.

Finally, China's stock market, once a favorite of investors, is very unstable. Even today it shed 1/2 trillion over fears of policy changes. While everyone here is frustrated because the DOW isn't hitting new records every month, our market is actually in a period of remarkable stability. It goes up, it goes down, it doesn't typically swing wildly.

Sorry about the long post, but sometimes it's just good to get some things in perspective. China does have a massive economy. So do we. They have a big military. So do we. Communication is good.

IceAger

1 week ago

If that’s what Rogin says, then it’s low risk, high reward.

Buenas

1 week ago

So here we are after a lot of trial and error.

seldoc1

1 week ago

Rogin won't be satisfied until were in an all out war with China.

Yanagawa

1 week ago

There is a reason no one responsible for foreign policy listens to Josh Rogin.

sycamore1

1 week ago

The columnist is a committed China basher, sometimes on the mark, but often off the mark too.

The US must do what is in its best interests, real or imagined, just as the Chinese wish to do so too. On some issues, collaboration and cooperation are the best, on others confrontation. Regardless, focus has to be on improving the manufacturing and the US competitiveness in all areas, rather than on finger pointing at China. We can not remain stronger than China if we continue our internal cultural and political wars to no end, and if we have alternate facts rule our discussions and preferences. China has little to do with most of what we have been inflicting on ourselves.

buzzva

1 week ago

We are in an primarily economic contest with China. We play as an organized team, we're in the game. We continue to tear our society apart as we are now, we lose. Notice I said in the game. The rest of the world is out educating us. You go to our top tier research universities and take out the foreign students including many Chinese, they are not top tier anymore.

Skier99

1 week ago

Do you think that China does not also have LGBTQ citizens? I can guarantee that they are being squelched in China.

Cary Krosinsky

1 week ago

Josh Rogin is an extremely biased writer and he alone may make me cancel my subscription

Please stop giving him a platform for his hate filled content unless you give someone else an equivalent platform

Please listen to the likes of John Kerry and Janet Yellen who know we need to work with China to solve climate change

The CCP isn’t going away and there is a lot we could solve together if we put hatred to the side on both sides

Saskquatch

1 week ago

Pretty cool to see that Xi subscribes to to the Post (even if he is thinking of cancelling his subscription).

ruralPA

1 week ago

After Trump's trade war ignited 2018, imports from China and trade gap is getting larger. hmmm, I wonder why?

TFCFM

1 week ago

President Biden is doubling down on his push for economic engagement with Beijing.

Gee, MAYBE China's communists won't lie through their teeth... AGAIN!

Great thinking (not). Time for senile politicians to go.

William C Fang

1 week ago

In this piece, Mr Rogin's tone towards China is surprisingly less combative than I'm used to. That is a compliment.

I think Mr Rogin, and China hawks in general, need to lay out a pragmatic vision on how to engage China. I understand there is moral high ground to criticizing China on human rights, unfair economic practices, and the stance towards Taiwan. But there is also no point at espousing non-starters.

From China's view, there was also moral high ground to ban British import of opium. Or to resist Japan's incursion. That didn't cause Britain or Japan to change course. So let's not rely on moral or ideological discussions.

What does Mr Rogin see as realistic goals? Continued antagonism towards China inevitably leads to another cold war. I realize there isn't an easy answer. But unlike me, Mr Rogin has the prestigious platform of The Washington Post. His views on China should be better developed and thought out than simply "China - BAD!"

Danniels

1 week ago

The US must decouple from China. No excuses.

Skier99

1 week ago

OK, but the USA was not involved in the opium trade to China, in spite of the usual Chinese propaganda. Can we say the say the same about the exports of Chinese Fentanyl to the USA???

j_jota

1 week ago

The action we can take individually is to stop buying items Made in China

It isn’t easy, but is concrete and doesn’t rely on politicians. Money is the engine that drives the CCP

Socrates Followers

1 week ago

Rogan, as someone with no responsiblity, has the luxury of righteous indignation. Biden, as the adult in the room, realizes that lowering tensions with China is the right thing to do.

Danniels

1 week ago

Biden works for the oligarchs. Period.

Benjamin

1 week ago

Lol.

trubaby

1 week ago

You silly. And make no sense

htklun

1 week ago

You mean the 0.1% on Wall Street that sends their orders down with space lasers? I though they own the GOP candidate more so than Dems….

Hypnoswede

1 week ago

Sounds lame.

trblmkr1

1 week ago

We can ask China to make and export up to 90% of consumer goods. The key is to limit technology loss and eliminate strategic dependencies asap.

If they’re not okay with that, continue decoupling.

JohnR-Montana

1 week ago

China is still redeveloping itself. The United States is fully developed, for this period of history.

Southfranconian_Brigand

1 week ago

So, the alternatives to reciprocal industrial investment, wide if not global trade instead of pointless tariffs, and serious diplomacy rather than bellicose bluster and symbolic knee-jerk tit for tats are what?

Up the economic drawbridge and pour boiling West Texas Sweet on them or start a bar fight with the big sticks?

'Cause you didn't really say much there ...

Danniels

1 week ago

Janet Yellen is and has been an absolute disaster for the country. While at the Fed she all but ignored its compliance enforcement that allowed the Dallas Fed President, Robert Kaplan and the Boston Fed President, Eric Rosengren to engage in insider trading. As Treasury Secretary she’s been an utter failure.

China must be decoupled from the West. Manufacturing must be brought back as a matter of US national security and EU economic security. When the Wuhan virus hit, the US was caught unable to even manufacture face masks. All drug manufacturing is done in and by China. Even the Indian market depends on basics material for drug manufacturing.

Yellen is the Madoff of US appointed officials. She must go and stop pulling a Ruth Baden Ginsburg/ Diane Feinstein trick.

buzzva

1 week ago

Once you did the Wuhan virus number anything else you say has been undermined.

Chilling Out in WA

1 week ago

That’s nice wishful thinking. You forgot the consequences of such dreams. If you decouple the second biggest economy in the world, how are you going to make up for the lost? Are you going to “force” a business from seeking profit? Are you goin to declare war on China?

Because there is no other way to force anyone from doing what they want outside of war and tariffs. And if you do tariffs, do you think companies will really bring manufacturing back? Your idealist opinion has no factual basis. Do you even know the cost of manufacturing? Stuff made in China cost them 200 usd per person per month. Do you think any American would be willing to work for that wage?

Back up your ideas with real math and science. Name calling and wishful thinking can only go so far.

James DeLeon

1 week ago

Really not much to understand here. Isn't Biden just following Trmp's game plan on China?

NoMorein22

1 week ago

China bad. Biden bad. Yellen bad. Bad bad bad…

Did I miss anything?

vidocuff

1 week ago

Did you miss anything? Yes. You didn't start with, "I bad."

buzzva

1 week ago

For pointing out the tiredness of one trick pony rogin on his endless China tirade?

Noplutocrat

1 week ago

China is not a third-world country whose aggression you can "address". It is the second largest economy in the world. You can try negotiating with them on an equal footing but not with coercion. Biden has yet to understand that.

Jeanne Rae

1 week ago

Yep.

macielun

1 week ago

WP.4/26/2023. Biden's economic diplomacy push with China is high-risk, low reward.

An old Chinese proverb: how to skin a live tiger? Very, very carefully. The Biden administration is still determining the most effective strategy to deal with China.

So far, creating a military crisis regarding Taiwan is not working. On the contrary, it only enraged the CCP's leadership while stirring anti-American sentiment among the population.

Nevertheless, the Biden administration seems eager to engage the Chinese in the usual rough economic diplomacy. The big stick takes five.

Any country doing business with China remembers the old tiger proverb. Not an easy task for President Biden, facing an economic recession, a financial crisis, and a tough reelection.

Joseph A Palumbo

1 week ago

"At this point, Xi won’t even accept a phone call from the American president." ... Say no more.

Oh, that's not a problem. Just send another topnotch senior senior ....

Janet 'Inflation? What inflation?'Yellen.

Cold One

1 week ago

Okay. After a few years of reading his hysterical pablum, I get it. Josh Rogin is a desk bound war monger who would love nothing else than to see the U.S. go to war with China, because he thinks it's a good idea, and he won't be personally harmed. All his animosity toward China is stewed in racist assumptions and xenophobia, but hey, anyone who questions his point of view is soft on China, right?

Jasper_in_Boston

1 week ago

Josh Rogin is a desk bound war monger who would love nothing else than to see the U.S. go to war with China, because he thinks it's a good idea, and he won't be personally harmed.

If he lives on earth there's a pretty good chance he'd be harmed. If he lives in the United States of America there's a very strong chance indeed he'd be harmed. And if he lives in Washington, DC, there's an overwhelmingly high probability he'd be harmed unless he gets out of dodge before the nuclear exchanges commence—to a safe, deep underground bunker far from population centers and stocked with several months of food and water. And even then there's no guarantees because the survivors of bunkers will be greeted by a country ravaged by famine (complete collapse of food chain), disease (ditto medicine) and violence (think Mad Max).

Rogin isn't shrewd. He's actually not very bright.

M Moore54

1 week ago

China will not respect us unless we articulate expectations in negotiations. We can't just show up with our hat in our hand and expect China to respect us just because...

El Penguin

1 week ago

It’s time to dial back on the infantile woofing and blustering about China. Nobody needs a new Cold War.

Chilling Out in WA

1 week ago

Global trade is based on goods and services. Bolster our goods and we compete better. The US has been stuck on being a consumer market for so long, we became fat, literally. We need to innovate and make stuff that only we can make instead of just shipping it over to China for cheaper labor.

Take Tesla battery. They made a manufacturing company here so they can get the tax credit, but then off shore most of the manufacturing to China because it’s cheaper. Kinda unless.

We may need to automate things that can be made in China. That’s the best way to be independent. This whole AI innovation has the automation industry giddy with happiness. Once 6G rolls out, you’ll be seeing a lot of automation.

richardg64

1 week ago

"low reward" - not engaging in a massive conflict is not a low reward.

Keong Loh

1 week ago

U.S. economic diplomacy is basically peddling funny money in exchange for blood, sweat, tears and subservience. Of course it is high-risk, low reward - for China.

francis j west

1 week ago

American credibility and resolve is decaying.

Aily Ites

1 week ago

You can’t achieve anything without allies. Even dictatorships understand that. I think recognizing it and acting accordingly makes us more credible. We’ve said “boo” enough times, amen to that.

1MoreBite

1 week ago

It was. Biden has been trying to repair that.

lorenzo2121

1 week ago

The babbling Biden can't even count change at a pub in Ireland let alone even think about our economic plight.

Aily Ites

1 week ago

In the long run it means more leverage, not less. But it’s not much in either case, you’re right about that.

Fender54

1 week ago

China hawks are living in a make believe world. The US powers that be locked our economy to China years ago. Our economy cannot survive without buying their krap, and theirs can’t survive without selling us krap. All the recent whining about China is a distraction by the Rs to hide their support for Putin. Sure the CCP is evil, but no more evil than it’s always been. The only thing that changed recently is trmp’s boss Putin’s war.

Grabson

1 week ago

U.S. should stay away from engagement from totalitarian China as far as possible. U.S. close their markets to China men.

The Lady Panc Ashash

1 week ago

Low reward? I'd say, avoiding armed conflict with China is a pretty good reward. Biden's effort may not succeed. But - Xi's call to Zelensky this week suggests that Xi really doesn't want military conflict with the West.

Jasper_in_Boston

1 week ago

To people like Rogin, slowing the march to war is a bug, not a feature.

The Lady Panc Ashash

1 week ago

I think if we assume there's a march to war with China - then such a war becomes inevitable. And I don't think it has to go that way.

G2Martin

1 week ago

Xi doesn't want direct military conflict, as his designs on world domination is longer term.

ds2449

1 week ago

Do not force the world to chose the US or China. Many countries will choose China. Latin America and Africa to names some.

G2Martin

1 week ago

That's certainly a short-term view. Cheap stuff. From a country that has designs on running the world as an autocracy.

Deforest Detrees IV

1 week ago

Those are not the names of countries, yeesh.

Nessus

1 week ago

USA has created a Monster!!!

Display Name is now Displayed

1 week ago

Lots of Oct and Nov 2017 kids out tonight. Or whatever time it is for the Kremlin Kids

Oops, no offense to July and August. Good to see you guys have shifts.

To quote a wise comedian:

“Is Potato.”

Jasper_in_Boston

1 week ago

The problem with going along is that until the United States addresses China’s economic aggression, it can expect neither fair competition nor security.

Rogin is living in a fantasy world. Economic aggression from China? Official US policy is now is to make China poorer and its economy weaker as an inevitable, mechanical aspect of its advanced chip quarantine. Also, US is trying to strong arm lots of other countries into doing the same. Plus, it wasn't Xi that launched a trade war in 2017. It was Trump.

I have no illusions that we're in a long term competition with that authoritarian superpower and its very different system. That competition can be characterized by peaceful coexistence. Or it can be characterized by economic warfare. Pick one.

G2Martin

1 week ago

I think it's more complex than that.

Both countries are necessary evils for the other, so the relationship will remain nuanced.

Alexios Antypas

1 week ago

I loathe the CCP but you certainly have a point.

Phrogtasm

1 week ago

I don't understand Rogin's point of view. Should we kiss Xi, nuke him, interact in a diplomacy-only mode or undertake to keep trade flowing? Which is it?

1MoreBite

1 week ago

This is why Biden has a whole room full of advisers, who are experts in their fields, to inform him before he makes decisions.

All presidents do.

Biden chose people who are knowledgeable in their fields. People who, I would wager, aren't afraid to say something that doesn't agree with his opinions.

He isn't the type to just surround himself with a bunch of inexperienced "Yes" people who cater to his whims, unlike some person I could name.

moore_te

1 week ago

Rogin doesn't know what to do, he's just flailing around with speculations. He does say we should keep talking though. That's the one thing he got right.

Denise E. Williams

1 week ago

This opinion is not logical. Yellen can be much more effective at laying a groundwork for peace than the Secretary of State. She is smart, very competent, and cares deeply about Ukraine. Personally I won't buy from a dictatorship, and we need to be completely self sufficient when it comes to goods and services from China, but Yellen can see around the edges to what is possible and good for everyone's standard of living.2

Stele

1 week ago

Completely self-sufficient after three decades of sustained manufacuturing outsourcing, seriously? That’s like a college student with $100k in student debt saying they’re gonna buy a beach house when they graduate.

G2Martin

1 week ago

Yellen has up until now been completely useless, except as a cheerleader for Biden.

KindlyDocBlanston

1 week ago

Plenty of those around.

Denise E. Williams

1 week ago

Three distinct account responses with Xi and Putin talking point responses. Did I hit a nexus nerve? Yellen works hard intending to be of benefit for all people. Xi might find a soft landing with her constructive efforts for everyone, and that would benefit everyone, especially if Xi offers asylum for Putin and effective medical care.

Expatriada

1 week ago

Must treat China like a child with horrible parents who see kid as superior and never doing anything wrong. Child is ignorant, obnoxious thinks world revolves around him and won’t play by rules. Must engage because of loathsome selfish parents—but always knowing they only have their own best interests in mind

Good piece Josh

moore_te

1 week ago

I can't figure out who is the child. Sounds like the US, since we made the rules to suit ourselves and the Chinese don't want to play. Metaphors don't always translate well to the real world.

Mac7429

1 week ago

The U.S. allowed China into the WTO. China has not been playing by any rules except theft and coercion. Not only is China the child, it is a vicious bully with no moral compass except to please itself. Get it straight, moorety.

Stele

1 week ago

The State Department, run by political science dorks, is one of those govt bureaucracies where there’s not even success metrics to know if they’re even doing a good job or not. I hate to say this but leave it to the Finance people to actually be able to articulate goals and quantitatively measure progress towards them. The State Dept is just like a retirement home for political cronies.

G2Martin

1 week ago

The State Department is the primary foreign relations agency of the United States.

It's charged with carrying out the administration's foreign policy.

Yellen is mostly a "Yes man", who thinks Bidinflation is "transitory". Anyone still believe that? I don't doubt that China would prefer to deal with her.

Stele

1 week ago

Which means what exactly? How do you measure success or failure?

G2Martin

1 week ago

Yellen is overall pretty useless.

TheRealStone

1 week ago

Agree

maifgm

1 week ago

She has plenty of company, they spend us off a cliff, cause inflation, then try to fix the problem and make it worse..

Mac7429

1 week ago

They didn't cause inflation. Inflation is a global problem initiated by the pandemic. And in many countries, it's far worse than here. Get your head out of Fox propaganda.

Point-of-View

1 week ago

Avoiding war with China is such a low reward, only a fool should be doing that, right?

conerned

1 week ago

What utter nonsense! What have the increased tariffs and sanctions on hundreds of Chinese products and companies given us? Higher prices and shortages. Nothing more. We gained no advantage over China. All we have done is contributed to inflation. Economics have estimated that Trump's tariffs have caused between 1-2% of the inflation rate. Image if Biden had the common sense and courage to have reduced or eliminated Trump's costly tariffs two years ago. The Fed would have been facing a much lower inflation rate and would not have needed to increase interest rates as much. Instead we have rapidly rising interest rates, slowly declining inflation, and a likely recession coming.So again I ask the question, what has punishing China with higher tariffs bought us? So far Trump's tariffs are estimated to have cost American businesses and consumers over $150 billion. It is high time that we stop this irrational anti-Chinese hysteria and get back to rational policies.

Dean Gio

1 week ago

Sit down, Josh, the adults are governing.

KindlyDocBlanston

1 week ago

Can’t criticize the Administration on these pages. The faithful are not interested. Just like Fox.

moore_te

1 week ago

You just need an argument based on the facts and not Fox Spews.

Bo Geerters Schmidt

1 week ago

talking is fosure better. than the alternative. in a time with climate changes. where the 2 most important players for success isn't talking is completely irresponsible. US can't change chinas system vice versa. Alternative is to find other places for production or bring it home. That would hit harder. tariffs has never help any one. It was a big thing in the 1920-30. Mussolini and similar made a big political point for their new empires. The result we know.

VERITAS 2023

1 week ago

As long as the US keeps up its act, those in power will act as though it's the post-World War II era and the US is the only player in town. Regardless of how dysfunctional a once-great power has become, it is unable to acknowledge that it is fading and continues to pretend to be the top dog.

Since the world has changed, China is the envy of the world and is outperforming the US in all but a small number of areas. And when Biden calls, Xi doesn't even pick up. You should weep while keeping an eye on the dollar.

lordcn1

1 week ago

bot

Mac7429

1 week ago

It's still top dog, and thank God it is.

Alexios Antypas

1 week ago

China is the envy of the world? Are you high? China has some 400 concentration camps for Uyghurs. It has a vast surveillance state that tracks every movement of its citizens. It is highly polluted, very expensive, and women are so depressed about the future that they have stopped conceiving to the point where it's a national crisis. Who envies the Chinese? Who is clamoring to emigrate to China? Where is the border crisis with throngs jostling to get in like at the US southern border? The CCP is holding things together with surveillance, repression and terror and the system it has created is most certainly going to collapse eventually, as all dictatorships do.

Senex flevit

1 week ago

The US is having a hard time as its imperial age ends, with the rise of a power who has values that do not align with its own.

Red China, as it prepares to invade Taiwan in the next 12-18 months, is taking significant measures to decouple from the U.S. capital system to avoid the inevitable sanctions it will face when it acts.

Should get interesting soon.

Peter Dohan MD

1 week ago

You must be well-,connected to know when, not if, China is going to definitely invade Taiwan. Could you share your connections with the rest of us benighted souls please?

Senex flevit

1 week ago

They are not hiding their intentions. All of their plans and preparations point towards a ‘when’ not a ‘if’ decision. There are two months every year that the weather supports an invasion; April and September. My read is that they are not quite ready by this Fall but they may be by next Spring or next Fall at the latest.

Alexios Antypas

1 week ago

I'll take a bet that the Chinese don't invade Taiwan for at least four years. And I am doubtful they will do it even then. No crystal ball. But the risk to reward for them is also not favorable.

Mac7429

1 week ago

Overall, the American imperial age has been good for the world, particularly for the Western aligned nations. China taking over that position would plunge the world into the new Dark Age.

Suursteruim

1 week ago

The American Imperial age has not been good for my country and we were aligned with the US.

Alexios Antypas

1 week ago

Which country is that? Counterfactuals are impossible to prove but the US imposed peace on Europe, currently holds the line against Russian aggression that would otherwise already have crossed into Poland, Romania and the Baltic States, and has allowed for security on the high seas, which allows all nations to trade freely. No hegemonic power in history has been benign, but it did matter a lot if you were living in the Roman or the Persian empire, a NATO country or in the Soviet Union or a satellite state. Now that the Pax Americana is ending, there will be some unpleasant surprises all around the world. Regional hegemons like China, Iran and Russia will have their own way of doing things and all you have to do is see how these countries treat their own people to reasonably predict how that is going to go.

Raynald Harvey

1 week ago

Rogin's Chinese derangement syndrome...

Ken Zimmerman

1 week ago

Chinese bot

lordcn1

1 week ago

Its a lot better than fighting with your largest trading partner. Trump had no idea what to do as a practical matter besides just name calling. So now we've left a bad taste in the mouths of Chinese leadership and perhaps excuses that some Communist nut cases are looking for. Yes they are pushing but no, war isn't the best way to adjust to their economic power.

Next In Line

1 week ago

Really weak. Again just normal typical dialogue. Biden likes to bark but his bite doesn't draw blood. Tariffs hurt Americans, get rid of them now. Help America return to a market economy, stop allowing our companies continue with high prices. Try doing something for the working person who is being eaten up with the WH's continued promotion of more inflation. The DNP is very lucky in 2024 because DT is not considered competition. It does not erase the fact Biden is too old for a 2nd term and many Americans are not going to support more of the same. Times don't look positive at all.

moore_te

1 week ago

You know what REAL "high risk, low reward" is? Going to war over Taiwan. That would be a negative "reward" for the United States.

Keep talking.

manny_thome

1 week ago

Of course we should engage China. They're too important globally not to.

But I do think we are heading for a world with two separate trading blocs. I was for inclusion of China in the WTO a generation ago, but it hasn't worked in many respects. Ultimately, if China (and other socialist economies) won't have free markets and continue to insist on 51% state ownership and access to IT of companies doing business there then we may need to move on ... not in a combative way, but almost regretfully, because the Chinese system just makes a level playing field not possible.

Mac7429

1 week ago

They don't have a "socialist" economy. It ain't Sweden. They have a communist party dictatorship.

manny_thome

1 week ago

Of course China is a socialist economy. What are you even talking about? While "pure" socialist economies may be in the dustbin, China still has far greater state ownership and centralized planning (hallmarks of socialism) than not.

And Sweden is a free market, capitalist economy. It just has a tax and redistribution levels.

JHCook

1 week ago

What really are the policy options for the US in its relationship with China? I don't think our leaders really have articulated where the US places its priorities. Clearly, national security should be a key consideration. But do we really think that we are headed to a military confrontation with a nuclear superpower? I doubt that China is a immediate military regardless of the loose talk about defending Taiwan --we really aren't being serious. We lived with nuclear armed Russia for several decades following WWII and learned to accept the limitations imposed on us by that the bomb. In China, we face a powerful economic as well as military competitor. But that does not mean American consumers, banks and manufacturers do not derive enormous benefits from the trade generated from that relationship. Given that reality, it probably will be better for the US to lower the level its denunciations of the Chinese and quietly work behind the scenes to develop a working relationship that effectively manages the inevitable economic and military tensions we face in our relationship with the second most powerful country in the world.

Paul Landon

1 week ago

Economic dependency on China will ultimately be our downfall. Strategic disengagement should be a national security issue.

We’ve played this movie for several decades- engagement has not changed China’s direction, but rather ours. Huge mistake to stay on this course.

Mac7429

1 week ago

Yup, can we just admit that China is our mortal enemy, as bad or worse than the former Soviet Union. The West needs to stop financing all of China's evils. (Yes, evils)

Alexios Antypas

1 week ago

I don't understand what you are talking about. You must be a fanatic or something. The more than half century of cultural genocide against the Tibetans, putting a million or more Uyghurs in some 400 concentration camps and torturing, killing and sterilizing them, and creating a terrifying surveillance state that they are exporting to developing countries is all just fun and games and the best thing we can do is appease these people and help make them even wealthier so financing atrocities isn't such a burden. I just don't get you, Mac7429.

topspin22

1 week ago

Biden’s foriegn diplomacy is high-risk, low reward

Liam-Still

1 week ago

I am very excited about Kevin McCarthy's promised Unfunded War with China, To Defend Taiwan.

Kevin Said:

Stop adding to the National Debt, like we have always done, or else we will default on paying our bills. That will then trigger another one of our regular Great Depressions and require the borrowing of many trillions more to recover from it.

.............................................................

That will make the dollar worthless right away. We will need a wheelbarrow full of them to pay for a loaf of bread, like happened in Germany in the 1930s.

That is Kevin McCarthy's way of combating inflation. He is a very powerful 'Anti-Woke" Imbecile.

It will be their final Doomsday Great Depression, because after they have turned America into A Deadbeat Country, there is not going to be any investors willing to risk lending us the many trillions of dollars it will require to recover from it.

Republicans Are Not Conservatives. They Are Deranged Nihilists.

topspin22

1 week ago

China is Communist country and completely and thoroughly racist in the belief that Chinese people are superior in every way. They are a 3000+ year old culture that has existed and maintain itself as other have risen and fallen.

Since 85% of the businesses are government owned, they can easily nationalize all US investment in the country, with one word from Xi.

Atlas Sharted

1 week ago

Can you buy a phone made by Xiaomi in America? Nope. So nationalism exists on both sides.

And is America a racist country that has the highest percentage of their population of any western nation in jail? Yep.

So maybe your perspective needs an update. Don't get me wrong - I'm not sticking up for China in any way, but I'm just saying sometimes people in America (source: I am American) have a righteous, myopic view of the world and should look in the mirror before they speak out.

topspin22

1 week ago

I have worked with and been to China. These are my observations and based on studying Chinese history and culture to improve my understand of their society, culture and business structure.

China owns 85% of their business, thus there are many many industries in China that only serve the Chinese market. The issue is the Apple cell phone, for example. China could nationalize those facilities and effective stop the building of Apple Cell phones.

As for racism, China believes their culture, race/ethnicity is superior. There is no American race, we believe our system of governmentt is superior.

You are the myopic view of the world, based arguing that your country, the most racially, ethnically, and religiously diverse in country, in the world is a he77hole in your mind. No one in the world cares if you hate your neighbor.

Freight Canoe

1 week ago

You just made that up. Why? They are a tolerant culture. And cut the crap about them thinking they’re superior . You who individually pollute per capita twice as much as China but want to describe this in total pollution instead of per capita pollution. Yes yes we all know you think Americans should be able to pollute twice as much as anyone else. And make a mockery of democracy at the UN where you enable the sick apartheid system of Israel by blocking all censure of it even when the votes are unanimous. I’ve seen xeroxed $3 bills with more integrity.

topspin22

1 week ago

My comment is about China. If you want to hate America, that's your business, but it does change what China is in the least.

Freight Canoe

1 week ago

Hate? Is that what you call truth and fact in the Kangaroo Kakistocracy now? Reread your post. Is there a word missing?

And I suppose you’re oblivious to hypocrisy?

buzzva

1 week ago

How many countries has the US invaded, fought wars in or overthrown their government? Log in eye much?

topspin22

1 week ago

Ah a Chinese troll.

Atlas Sharted

1 week ago

This isn't just about economics or China - it's also about geopolitics, specifically Ukraine. Notice how China and Ukraine are talking now? That's because of US involvement.

There is a delicate balance and many games being played here. Nothing is simple when it comes to powerful countries dealing with each other.

Freight Canoe

1 week ago

What are gains to you Rogin? Elevating tensions? Increasing arms sales? Increasing military budgets? Increasing the scurrilous anti- Chines propaganda? Increasing anti- Asian hate crimes? Full scale warfare?

buzzva

1 week ago

A living being a one trick pony, just reshuffling the words for each opinion?

Freight Canoe

1 week ago

Just trying to provide some balance to the propaganda juggernaut that is WaPo. So your problem is you don’t like truth, or are just unable to recognize it? It is a natural consequence of being fact- free and bone-lazy. There is no surer sign of a feeble position than to dive into personal innuendo. Or did I misunderstand you?

checosavuoi

1 week ago

At some point in time - probably too late - the World will realize that we are all in it together . Start to accept that to survive and live decently we have to stop acting like we are islands unto ourselves. Start to negotiate in honest win-win fashion. Start to recognize that the calculation that equals peaceful survival is not zero-sum. Start to realize that "I got mine! now you get yours!" is a challenge that provokes strife, conflict, and failure, and NOT species success.

This is NOT idealistic babble - this is just a fact! The evolutionary model that tests best is diversity, empathy, and cooperation.

I said "probably too late" because about 32% of the people in the World are "genetically" programmed to take an opposite course, and they are the World's "warriors". The USA is no exception.

And authoritarian narcissistic charismatic selfish leader types WILL manipulate that 32% to "seize" power and rule according to their narcissistic selfish character that is antithetical to all we need to do to survive peacefully.

The authoritarians can do this because many in the 68% just do not get it - do not see the shoals and rocks that will ground them - and many in the 68% that do get it just do not care enough to fight the wheel being turned into disaster. The 68% lets the 32% win! The authoritarians win. We dig a deeper hole.

OUR EXISTENTIAL PROBLEM IS NOT CHINA PER SE BUT OUR CURRENT DRIFT INT0 THEOCRATIC AUTHORITARIAN PLUTOCRACY - A MODEL THAT ABSOLUTELY WILL DRIVE US NOT ONLY IN THE WRONG DIRECTION FROM A WORLD STANDPOINT BUT INTO DISUNITY AND STRIFE WITHIN OURSELVES.

The fact that 47% of my fellow citizens think a Biden is worse than a Trump, and too many of 53% will not vote correctly to thwart the 47%, is more of an existential problem to me than China is per se! Hope more get this fact!

Liam-Still

1 week ago

Biden’s economic diplomacy push with China is high-risk, low reward

Pay no heed to Trump's recent unstinted praise of President XI.

Reminder. The GOP pulled out of the regional trade pact, that was established to contain the Hegemonic aspirations of China.

They also were the ones who transformed it from a third world starving population into todays Industrialized Superpower, that they outsourced most of our vital supply chains to. We could not defeat them in Korea in the 1950s and thanks to the Republicans we stand no chance of doing so now.

That MAGA Imbecilic Kevin McCarthy wants to start a war with China to protect Taiwan, while at the same time he does not want to fund any of it.

WaPo. You Can't Hide Your Fred Ryan Lies.

Suursteruim

1 week ago

Both the US and China can get a lot further working together rather than competing against each other. The interesting thing is that China respect the way that Americans choose to operate their country, USA keeps telling China the way they operate their country is wrong.

That said China should learn how to positively deal with criticism instead of shutting down talks.

A lot of the strife happening is because the US culture and Chinese culture are so different from one another.

Dybee

1 week ago

He's accusing China of "economic agression". I don't know what that means, although it sounds a bit like code for "be afraid" or "lets go to war".

MD Transplant

1 week ago

We need to stop importing China stuff and start buying American stuff. Bring manufacturing back to the US.

M.Ayub

1 week ago

What an idiotic statement

sapettyjohn

1 week ago

We do not have a “bilateral” arrangement with China. Its been a one way street for over three decades with all the benefits flowing to strengthen the Chinese economy, government, military and the Communist Party that oversees it all. This opening to China was and still is delusional on the part of our government and business leaders who were blinded by greed and couldn’t see how we were being fleeced(yea, Apple and the rest- I’m taking about you).

whatwasthat68

1 week ago

There are other evolving countries with cheap labor sources. Often the problem is govt. corruption and instability or lack of infrastructure, etc. We need to bring critical goods production back to the U.S., and help repress organized crime in Central America to better invest there also. More robust economies and responsible govts. in Central America would help stem the flow of desperate asylum seekers to the U.S.

JimMcD2012

1 week ago

We need to get back into the Trans Pacific Partnership.

Semiotic

1 week ago

Its hard to go cold turkey from Chinese influence on the American economy and consumerism in particular. First. China is the second largest holder of American debt. Yes. Really. Second. American Corporations get basically everything we use, take, eat, play with, listen to, etc. made and distributed by China. You walk away from your investment in China, like Tesla has had to effectively do with the Shanghai GigaFactory, and you're sunk. So the economic partnership MUST be slowly evolving, or devolvng, as required, and it demands a firm handshake between American Corporations, whose actions over the last 50 years have resulted in this national security risk, and the Federal Government, in lock step in regards to the "China Situation". But that NEVER happens.

whatwasthat68

1 week ago

Saw a stat. where China and the U.S. do $6 trillion in business annually, so agree we need to evolve or devolve slowly avoiding military conflict. China poses no direct threat to the U.S. other than each countries nuclear arsenals, which should be "devolved" globally before we exterminate each other.

whatwasthat68

1 week ago

Every Rogin article I have read promotes military confrontation rather than global cooperation. Blinken, Biden's Sec. of State a career defense contractor, so would be wary of anything he is involved with. Rogin an asset for the MIC also. I vote Democratic because the GOP even more militaristic and corrupt (i.e., always wanting to cut programs for the poor and give more tax breaks to the wealthy). Many of our problems need global solutions.

johnchas

1 week ago

To talk about “global cooperation” with authoritarian regimes is naive and misguided. Economic cooperation is often simply a cover for job exports to low wage countries (or in the case of China forced labor and cultural servitude) and wealth inequality. There’s this fantasy among some of my fellow liberals that the problem is a militaristic America and not authoritarian regimes seeking to expand their power and influence. Yes “many of our problems need global solutions” and one of them is understanding the last pandemic and the possibility of future ones. How exactly does that happen when the country that Covid originated in blocks research and lies about the origins and their responses to the pandemic? Is that the “cooperation” you speak of.

qezhou

1 week ago

Your ignorance of Fact will damage yourself along with others. PRC worked with US to find out how SARS happened before, because PRC also wants to prevent next pandemic. The only reason PRC did not do it this time is because Trump played political with COVID original at the very beginning of this pandemic. Why would PRC provide evidence when you are blaming them already without any evidence? China is still a developing country. It has tremendous amounts of problems. With Trump then and the America anti-China fever like yours now, there is No Way PRC will provide any cooperation on tough issues.

This is a Tragedy for you, Chinese and everyone else on this Earth.

TheHolyFool

1 week ago

Strategically, approaching Beijing and begging for a meeting is wrongheaded. It shows Beijing where you are weak and vulnerable when Beijing is the one on the ropes. Again, another show of weakness, softness, and lack of resolve. That last thing you want to do against this type of mind-set.

This approach is fatuous against an aggressive enemy. Do these people in the White House and State Department understand with whom they are dealing with? How many tea leaves does it take.

Change the playbook. These are the same mistakes made with Russia in attempting to placate a desperate aggressor who has already made up its mind.

风萧萧_Frank

Biden's economic diplomacy push with China is high risk, low reward