Two weeks into the U.S. administration, there is concern about when new President Joe Biden will have direct interaction with Chinese Communist Party President Xi Jinping. A White House spokesman on Tuesday declined to say when the two would talk and whether China had requested a dialogue with Biden. Analysts believe that even if the two can overcome the obstacles to dialogue, it will still be difficult for the two countries to start fresh.
Since taking office on Jan. 20, President Biden has spoken with the leaders of Russia and the seven major industrial nations, but has not communicated directly with Chinese Communist Party President Xi Jinping, raising concerns.
In a White House press conference on Tuesday (2), spokesman Pusaki was pressed on whether Biden plans to speak with Xi Jinping.
Psaki: “Our approach to China and the way we approach the U.S.-China relationship is obviously strategic.”
Reporters pressed Psaki on whether he would not speak with Xi now. For his part, Psaki responded that Biden has been in office for just over a week, that there are different levels of U.S.-China relations, and that the top priorities are addressing climate change, the economy and national security.
In 2016, Trump received a congratulatory message from Xi Jinping on the day of his victory, while Biden, whom Xi has publicly called an “old friend,” received a congratulatory message from China more than two weeks after he announced his victory. Two days after Trump’s inauguration, Xi sent another congratulatory message, and it is still unclear when Biden and Xi will be able to interact directly.
Video [When will Biden speak with Xi? [White House spokesman keeps his mouth shut
Scholar: “The U.S. has no incentive to reinforce Xi Jinping’s authority at this Time“
Xia Ming, a professor of political science at the City University of New York, said that although Biden and Xi have a personal relationship, the structural contradictions between the U.S. and China have prompted Biden to make a choice.
Xia Ming: “Xi Jinping has made a lot of mistakes in the past year, especially in the fight against the New Crown Pneumonia (CCP virus) Epidemic, and the U.S. government has realized that if it were to engage in a high-profile so-called great power head exchange with Xi Jinping at this time, it would actually be giving Xi Jinping a certain kind of legitimacy and strengthening Xi Jinping’s position. Now the United States has no incentive to reinforce Xi’s prestige and his international standing and legitimacy at this time.”
Outsiders have noted that while Biden has stepped up dialogue with allies, Beijing has also been busy dealing with Third World countries.
Xia Ming: “Now Biden keeps calling allies, and Xi Jinping is not alone in calling small countries that are very dependent on China, Belarus, Laos, Bolivia, and keeps calling them. I think Xi Jinping also wants to show that I’m also busy, I don’t need to call you because I’m on the phone a lot, I’m busy as hell.”
Some analysts believe that the U.S.-China relationship is at a crossroads and that the next step depends on whether the U.S. and China can build a whole new framework for relations and whether China releases goodwill to the United States.
Xia Ming: “It’s not a matter of the Chinese government releasing goodwill, but it has to restrain its malice. During the past year’s (U.S.) presidential election, and before Biden’s inauguration at the end of the election, the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda machine created a lot of rumors and false information aimed at discrediting the newly elected U.S. president, as well as discrediting U.S. democracy, creating all kinds of disloyalty to U.S. politics among the Chinese, and making direct challenges to the U.S. constitutional system, which, if not well controlled, would create a complete ideological conflict.”
In Taiwan, Zeng Fusheng, an advisor to the National Security Group at the National Foundation for Policy Studies, estimates that the U.S. and Chinese governments are negotiating a dialogue between Biden and Xi, seeking to reach consensus on important issues while narrowing differences.
Zeng Fusheng: “Including U.S. human rights issues in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the South China Sea and Diaoyutai. I believe that the two sides have not yet reached a specific approach to cooperation on issues such as North Korea, Iran, globalization and Covid-19 (Wuhan pneumonia), and the sharing of responsibilities, which is why it has been delayed until now.”
Zeng Fusheng said that if the Biden Administration continues Trump’s approach to China, I believe Beijing will also maintain its toughness.
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