Biden is in China this week to meet the president of a country many Americans see as threatening
The U.S. should not be afraid of China: a lecture by D.C. Saunders, R.P.M. Trump, M.T. Haley, and J.B. Seiberg
The Chicago Council found that concerns about China are particularly pronounced among Republicans, with 71% saying China is a critical threat, and an overwhelming majority saying U.S. leaders aren’t paying enough attention. The Democrats and independents rate China a critical threat.
The professor said that the spike in Republican concern is not a new phenomenon. “We have so much evidence in political science that people pick the candidate they like, and then they adopt that candidate’s views as the ones that they prefer.”
While foreign policy is not the kind of top-of-mind policy issue that drives voter decision – like abortion rights or economic issues – it is something that helps presidential candidates build a narrative of being tough and standing up for America, Saunders said.
At a rally in South Florida last week, Trump said that things would be better if he were in charge, as well as referring to China, warnings about “World War Three” and assertions that things would improve if he were in charge.
On the GOP debate stage last week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis went after opponent Nikki Haley for allowing a Chinese company to acquire land near a military base when she was governor of South Carolina, echoing a negative campaign ad his superPAC has had in heavy rotation.
The former UN ambassador plans to stop trade with China to stop the import of the drug. She said that he wouldn’t be committing to doing the same thing if he was soft on China. At a recent campaign event in New Hampshire, she said China is “on the march,” raising alarms about its weapons development.
Biden has focused on building alliances in the Indo-Pacific to counter its might, and kept Trump’s tariffs in place while boosting subsidies for U.S. companies making microchips and electric vehicles.
“China is determined to dominate the electric-vehicle market by using unfair trade practices, but I will not let them,” Biden told a group of United Auto Workers union members in Illinois last week. “I promise you.”
Biden described China’s leader as a dictator in a closed door fundraiser, adding to the tension between the two countries. Most of the time he is more measured in his tone.
“We seek to responsibly manage competition between our countries so it does not tip into conflict,” Biden said at the UN General Assembly in September. I said we would be for de-risking not changing our relationship with China.
SAN FRANCISCO — The last time China’s leader, Xi Jinping, visited the United States was in 2017. At that time, there wasn’t yet a full- blown trade war between the US and China. Former President Trump touted “great chemistry” with Xi.
The 5 Things NPR Reports Have to Know About China: After Nancy Pelosi’s Observations of Taiwan, Vladimir Putin’s Response to Putin and the Russia-Ukraine War
So when they meet again this Wednesday in the San Francisco Bay Area, they have lots to discuss. Here are the five things NPR reporters are closely tracking:
After Nancy Pelosi visited to Taiwan last year, military communication between the United States and China took a hit. China swiftly suspended most senior military-to-military dialogue in protest. The lack of exchanges has prompted analysts to warn of a potential miscalculation in areas such as the South China Sea or the Taiwan Strait.
Lyle Goldstein, director of Asia engagement at the think tank Defense Priorities, says more direct communication would help in the event of a crisis, and also provide ballast over the longer term.
I’ve seen how exposure to China has an effect on the way top U.S. military leaders view the situation, because they have to put in the time talking to these people.
This has long been an issue between the U.S. and China. The analysts from both sides of the Pacific have suggested different timelines for “reuniting” Taiwan to the mainland, but they all agree on one thing: it will take a long time.
Wednesday’s discussion on Taiwan is expected to be equally heated. Beijing is nervously watching Washington in the run up to Taiwan’s January presidential election.
Since last February, China’s stance on the Russia-Ukraine war has drawn sharp criticism in the U.S. Despite claiming to be neutral, Xi’s remarks to Russian President Vladimir Putin on his visit to Moscow earlier this year seemed to reflect his view of the current international dynamics. “These changes are the best we have seen in a long time, and we are the ones driving them together,” he said when bidding farewell to Putin.
The Biden administration sees China as having influence over how the next stage of the war develops, especially in their relations with Iran, a major supporter of Hamas.
“President Biden will make the point to President Xi that Iran acting in an escalatory, destabilizing way that undermines stability across the broader Middle East is not in the interests” of China or “any other responsible country,” Biden’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivan said on Monday.
Both sides have set low expectations for the Chinese leader’s visit, but analysts are watching to see what he says and how he behaves over the course of the week. They range from the export control to tariffs and sanctions.
Some analysts say that the upcoming dinner between China’s President and U.S. business executives in San Francisco is indicative of his desire to lure American businesses back to China.
“Over the years, notwithstanding setbacks in China-U.S. relations, Xi has consistently championed people-to-people exchanges with the United States,” writes Xinhua, the Communist Party’s official news outlet on Monday, in an editorial.
But there may be more consequential deliverables analysts are watching this week. The Biden administration is concerned about China’s role as a supplier of chemicals used in the making of Fentanyl, which is a Mexican drug. The U.S. has been pushing for more action on the part of the Chinese government, and Sullivan said the administration was hoping to see progress this week.
When they met, the wind was at both of their backs. Xi had just engineered a norm-bending third term as Communist Party boss, and stacked the policy-making Politburo with allies.
In the U.S., midterm election wins for the Democratic Party in 2022, and the lack of an expected “Red Wave”, validated the Biden agenda just days before meeting Xi. Biden said at the time that the midterms had sent a message around the world that the U.S. would remain fully engaged in global affairs.
Xi ended COVID controls not long after the Bali meeting, but only after a rash of public protests in cities around the country highlighted not only unhappiness with the government’s heavy-handed pandemic policies, but also general concerns about the country’s direction. A study this year said the subsequent rapid spread of the virus after the “dynamic zero COVID” policy may have led to 2 million excess deaths.
On top of that, the Chinese economy has been struggling mightily this year and seems unlikely to hit the official target of “around 5 percent”. Investment has slumped, and consumer confidence has plummeted.
Biden’s Polling: Blame Them For His Voting Absurdity, Or Why Donald Trump Is Better than Biden
Biden’s polling is troubling. Only 39 percent of Americans approve of him. Donald Trump is seen defeating Biden in a presidential faceoff next year.
