Joe Biden has tried to sound like he will be tough on China as a growing number of people sour on the influence that the Chinese Communist Party holds over America’s economy and culture. But Biden’s history toward China continues to shine through, suggesting he’ll do nothing more than scold the CCP.
The coronavirus pandemic is the most obvious example of this. Jake Sullivan, Biden’s nominee for national security adviser, said last week that the United States would send a “very clear message” to China that their response to the coronavirus outbreak was not acceptable. What does that mean exactly? Well, Biden told CNN’s Jake Tapper that he would make it “real clear to China” that they must follow international rules.
In other words, Biden is going to give them a stern talking to.
Biden tried to sound like he would be tougher on China during the campaign, reflecting the reality that the public has an increasingly negative view of the country over its mishandling of the pandemic and rampant human rights abuses. But Biden can’t shake the position that he held for the last 47 years.
During the Democratic primary, Biden described Chinese dictator Xi Jinping as a “thug.” But, standing next to that thug in 2012, he declared that a rising China was a positive development for both the U.S. and the world. Biden even downplayed the threat of China on the campaign trail in 2019, saying that they were not our competition and “they’re not bad folks.”
How Biden plans to force China to play by international rules is a bit of a mystery itself, considering China already paid off the referees at the World Health Organization. You’ll recall that Biden vowed to bring the U.S. back into the WHO on the first day of his administration, no preconditions or reforms necessary. U.S. taxpayers will soon be back to funding a body that regurgitates Chinese propaganda.
There’s a reason that Chinese state media are excited about Biden and his national security team, while allies such as Taiwan are nervous. Biden has been consistently wrong on China for nearly his entire career in public life, including in his eight years as vice president.
Biden has tried to talk the talk on this issue, but you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Biden is not prepared to hold China accountable for much of anything, the global pandemic included, no matter how much he tries to pretend to the contrary.
