The Biden administration already got what it wanted for Christmas this year: The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) gift came a bit early when the CCP allowed Secretary of State Antony Blinken to travel to China. There, he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Foreign Minister Qin Gang and other officials. Whatever joy this “gift” provided the administration must be tempered by the realization that it and the American people have paid a high price for it.
The American public may perceive its costs, which included some odd, incongruous remarks from President Biden. For example, his dismissal of the Chinese spy balloon as “more embarrassing” to China’s ruler Xi Jinping than “it was intentional.” Biden asserted that he doesn’t believe the Chinese leadership knew where it was and what it contained. That is a remarkable statement for several reasons, all of which should give the American people — and global audiences — some pause and unease about what the U.S. president and his administration intend.
First, Biden’s obsequiousness to China is an example of what not to do or say in the realm of political warfare. China humiliated the United States with the balloon’s transit. The Biden administration accepted that humiliation by not immediately downing the balloon when it entered U.S. airspace. Instead, it allowed the balloon to loiter over sensitive military facilities.
The spy balloon was an important signal that China is targeting the U.S. homeland and we are vulnerable to attack. In addition, it was an important message to the rest of the world that China can do what it wants. It perceives Washington to be in decline; certainly, Beijing is rising and aiming to dominate the 21st century. Biden’s comments provide Xi and the rest of the CCP leadership with cover for China’s bold — and successful — intelligence collection cum political warfare attack.
Second, historians likely will perceive Biden’s statement as definitive, and indicative of his administration’s approach to China. It encapsulates what might be termed the “Biden Doctrine” — that is, the humiliating subordination of U.S. interests to China’s. Intelligence officials have called China our biggest threat, yet Biden has placed having positive relations with Beijing above all other U.S. national security interests. As a practical matter, China can act as it pleases without concern of an effective check from the U.S.
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