The joint communiqué released by the Group of Seven leaders during the summit over the weekend in Hiroshima, Japan, took aim at China over several issues, but President Biden said Sunday that he expects a “thaw” in relations with Beijing.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan recently held a meeting with China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi. But for months beforehand, Beijing essentially cut off high-level contacts with Washington after Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a planned trip to China over the Chinese balloon that wound up over US territory in February due to unexpected weather.
Biden noted that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to maintain high-level communication when they met in Bali, Indonesia, last November. “And then this silly balloon that was carrying two freight cars’ worth of spying equipment was flying over the United States, and it got shot down, and everything changed in terms of talking to one another. I think you’re going to see that begin to thaw very shortly,” he said.
For their part, China maintains that the balloon was a weather balloon and not a surveillance device. The US has not provided evidence for the claim that it was carrying spy equipment.
While expecting a thaw in relations, Biden has shown no sign of backing down on his hardline policies against China. The Hiroshima summit came as the US is preparing to provide Taiwan with $500 million in “free” weapons, and after the US deployed about 200 troops to the island, steps the Chinese military called “intolerable.”
The Biden administration is also taking economic action against China and is considering screening US investment in the country. At the summit in Hiroshima, the G7 leaders accused China of “economic coercion.”
During his trip to Hiroshima, the city that the US dropped a nuclear bomb on in 1945, killing between 70,000 and 140,000 civilians, Biden held a meeting with the leaders of the Quad nations. The Quad consists of the US, India, Japan, and Australia, and increasing cooperation with the group is key to the Biden administration’s strategy against China in the region.
Funny way of thawing a relationship by trying to convince a whole bloc of countries to start a war with China. I do hope Biden can put his money where his mouth is and actually bring US-China relations back on track – but I’m not too hopeful. Not from all this rhetoric coming from the G7. Tone it down already before we start Ukraine 2.0 and get millions killed, including our own troops.
The American way is aggression while expecting the adversary to improve relations by constantly capitulating to our endless demands. Biden and the maga GOP see the world the same way, and deal with each other that way too. So much for the full faith and credit of these united.
You wonder whether Biden’s handlers ever consider how the rest of the world looks at Biden’s hypocritical and stupid comments.
I am non too happy about him negotiating with the GOP, perhaps willing to bargain with them on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the climate. Actually, I am non too happy with him about anything. Robert Kennedy, Jr. is not the answer. If Robbie does enter the race with a vengeance, and the DOJ, etc, is slow with Trump, we will see a Trump presidency. There are two things I have learned about Biden and the DNC. 1) as Obama said, “never underestimate the ability of Biden to f*ck things up, 2) never underestimate the ability of the DNC to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, despite the recent wins and 2020. I am very nervous about 2024.
You have my sympathy. As someone looking in, my usual comment is that Americans deserve better than the choice of Biden or Trump. Cant you, Americans, with over 350 million people, get better candidates than a senile liar and an opportunist?
and there it is…= maybe the TPB actually want a GOP POTUS because the GOP agenda = tax cuts for corporations and supra-millionaires (Trump et-al). every single pretend liberal (Musk, Zuckerberg, CNN etc) loves them some tax-cuts for the rich, which means that they are actually GOPs no matter how much they pretend otherwise.
probably we should all pretend that republicans have our best interest at heart.
i know that my elderly democrat mama is starting to feel some crunch from today’s political economic agenda which is actually a result of the last (GOP) political agenda, no matter how loudly the GOP pretends that it started the very moment that Biden took office.
Whatever happened to detente?…?…?
Heh.
Who? What? Where?
I’m just sure the Chinese will jump at the chance to be on good terms with the uncle Joe. Xi will be on his knees hoping for a pat on the head from Great Leader.
Open hostility is not usually called a thaw. It does not usually cause the other side to calm down and become more reasonable.
“Economic action against” is Washington-speak for “Cha-Ching! Business opportunity!” not real actions that will matter.
We really are going to go after our biggest lender and overseas factory with economic actions that are more than press releases?
ByeDone expects a “thaw”?
Perhaps Xi has other plans.
The Yang Chiechi 2 day meeting with Jake Sullivan in Vienna was apparently a reprise of the secret Kissinger – Zhou Enlai meeting in ’71, … thinking to “triangulate” again. Old Joe must have bought in.
“The Quad consists of the US, India, Japan, and Australia…” Reminds me of the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.” Am I alone in wondering how Japan belongs in there? Okay, okay, they’re meeting in Hiroshima so did the Japanese lose their soles and took a particular liking to the taste of being nuked twice? Okay, well, there’s that possibility but how about India? Their Foreign Minister doesn’t seem stupid. He strikes me to be almost as intelligent as a Russian shovel destroying a Patriot Battery. Uh-oh… Watch out! The Deep$hitState operatives are about to have a colossal $hitting in their own diapers when they see this. (Sarcasm alert)
US = “hey China we are taking aim at you!”
China = “wait, what?”
China is putting sanctions on US Micron Inc. using the same national security arguments we have used to harm some of their businesses (Huawei, SMIC)
China is saying, “We can play that game too.”
https://asiatimes.com/2023/05/with-micron-ban-china-says-no-to-de-risking/
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black, the hypocrisy of the G7 accusing China of “economic coercion” is astonishing. Not a month has passed in the last year without some new pronouncement of an escalation of economic sanctions against Russia and businesses across the globe that do business with China, Russia, Iran, and anyone else who displeases the Biden administration. These are the same people who confiscated the wealth of individuals who 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 have some influence on Putin exclusively because they are citizens of the wrong country. The latest escalation is a proposal to refuse to buy or sell 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 with Russia (because all Russians are now presumed to be evil).
Those looking for confirmation that Biden is mentally challenged need look no further than his ongoing contradictions. He actually seems to believe that attempts to bankrupt specific Chinese businesses is somehow consistent with a “thaw” in relations, and that supporting Taiwan independence is consistent with our “One China” policy.
Unless there is a declared war (by Congress), sanctions are illegal. The Constitution uses words “people”, “persons” in the 4th and 5th Amendments, not “Americans”. A very good article in Creators.org by Judge Napolitano: https://www.creators.com/read/judge-napolitano/03/22/sanctions-on-russia-violate-the-constitution
“Unless there is a declared war (by Congress), sanctions are illegal.”
Interesting claim.
What, then, does this mean: “Congress shall have Power …. To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations?”
Mr Knapp, if i admit that i do not know what that means, will you waste even one minute educating me?
Sanctions are regulations on commerce with foreign nations. And the Constitution clearly and unambiguously permits Congress to do that.
Sanctions are dumb and evil, but they’re not unconstitutional (they’d still be dumb and evil even if they were constitutional).
The Constitution gives Congress the power both to regulate commerce and to declare war. The use of sanctions by the Executive branch falls into a gray area because Biden has made it clear that the sanctions are specifically intended to harm Russia (and China).
Although Congress has the Constitutional mandate over both war and foreign commerce, so much of that authority has been delegated to the President that it is difficult to know which branch is actually in control.
Perhaps it is ignorance, but I can’t tell if Biden gets approval from Congress before he implements sanctions severe enough to be considered acts of war under international law. But I have little doubt that the founding fathers would never have tolerated the notion of giving one man so much largely unchecked power.
I also find the President’s unfettered use of sanctions to be fundamentally inconsistent with his claims that he is opposed to authoritarianism.
True. Congress has been ceding more and more power to the presidency with each administration since World War Two. Presidents don’t bother to seek declarations of war anymore, and Congress just plays possum. Congress also passes sanctions and war powers legislation that’s vague enough for a president to do pretty much whatever he wants, then point at that vague legislation and pretend it’s covered. Maybe there’s a lawsuit, maybe not, and if there is, by the time it’s settled there’s some new justification.
Sanctions are regulations on commerce with foreign nations. And the Constitution clearly and unambiguously permits Congress to do that.
Sanctions are dumb and evil, but they’re not unconstitutional (they’d still be dumb and evil even if they were constitutional).
Thanks for sharing the link. Among other things, Former Judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey Napolitano points out that Biden’s sanctions against individuals violate the Due Process clause of the 5th Amendment, and that seizing property without a court issued search warrant is also a violation of the Constitution.
The only “balloon” is Biden’s head. Vacuous.