Biden was unwisely allowed to handle a solo news conference following four hours of carefully planned talks with Chinese premier Xi Jinping on the outskirts of San Francisco yesterday (Nov15). This had been carefully planned as a sucking up exercise where we handed over military information and other goodies to appease Joe Biden’s pals in Beijing. It’s not a great look but it is the current Administration’s policy. (We covered it here)
So when, at the end of the news conference, he was asked whether he still held the view that Xi was a dictator, something he had said back in June he had an opportunity to fix the official relationship. Instead, he went full Joe and said this:
“Look, he is. He’s a dictator in the sense that he’s a guy who runs a country that is a communist country that’s based on a form of government totally different than ours,” Biden said.
In response, China’s foreign ministry said it “strongly opposes” the remarks, without mentioning Biden by name. Which means it’s really pissed.
“This statement is extremely wrong and irresponsible political manipulation,” foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters on Thursday at a routine briefing.
For all the screeching about Trump allegedly destroying diplomatic relationships, I don’t recall him ever doing something so wildly boneheaded as blowing up a summit with China by calling President Xi a “dictator,” while Xi was still physically present in the US attending events! pic.twitter.com/HXFv3QPay7
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) November 16, 2023
Blinken visibly uncomfortable
Antony Blinken is the current Secretary of State. This trip by the Chinese premier was the culmination of months and months of planning. He found his boss painful to watch. (He’s between the ear picker and the woman.)
Blinken looked like he wanted to crawl into a hole when Biden said Xi is a dictator.
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) November 16, 2023
pic.twitter.com/HmbEJBalWy
China will deal with this better than we will
China has had a hard economic time recently but seems to be pulling out of it. It is frisky in the South China Sea and its neighbors are waking up. Pissing them off, while desirable is not sensible right now. We lack money and materiel. Xi knows that. Everyone knows that.
Right now a China-friendly coalition is leading the polls in Taiwan, where its two main opposition parties have vowed to renew talks with China. If the coalition wins in their January elections it could end the hostilities we in the West have hitherto supported against China. The Taiwanese people are watching Ukraine and they don’t want to become the victims in another ineffectual US proxy war.
Time favors China and its centralized, planned economy. It’s a nation used to fending for itself and making deals with unscrupulous leaders, especially in Africa. The US is – mostly – more ethical, and places restrictions on trade without human rights. In the upcoming global collapse, China will do better than us.
For right now the US is facing imminent economic collapse – and when we sneeze the world catches a cold. Raising new debt is almost impossible as US Government bonds are now considered a toxic asset by most nations. More money printing is the only option. We all know where that goes. There will be an accelerated decline of the US dollar in international trade and as a reserve currency, which will result in massive inflation / hyperinflation. And our once great nation will join the basket cases of South America in bankruptcy.
Of course, the USA does have the ability to make itself great again. Before bureaucracy wrapped us in red-tape and green rules our enterprising people and an abundance of resources meant we could power a massive economy. But years of wars, the will to cut spending and the transfer of wealth to corporations has brought us to our knees.