In his first foreign policy address since taking office, Biden said not only a few words about relations with China, but also used the phrase “but” to say that while China is America’s toughest competitor, “we are also prepared to work with Beijing when it is in America’s interest to do so. cooperation.” In Chinese, the phrase “although, but” generally places more emphasis on the latter, i.e., “cooperation with Beijing. If future Biden Administration actions do indicate such a policy orientation, one should not be surprised.
Biden’s 4 April statement on U.S. policy toward China said that China is “the most serious competitor” to U.S. prosperity, security and democratic values, and that the United States will confront the Chinese Communist Party‘s “economic ills, oppose its aggressive coercive actions, and push back against China’s attacks on human rights, intellectual property and global governance. But we are also prepared to work with Beijing when it is in America’s interest to do so.”
Biden’s “but” formulation recalled that his Secretary of State appointee, John Blinken, also used the “but” phrase to say that the new Biden administration wanted to work with Beijing in areas such as the environment. A slightly lesser Biden administration official also said that the United States has “strategic confidence” in China, that the United States has not changed its policy toward Beijing and that it still recognizes the “one China” principle. There seems to be something unspeakable in between.
“Wang Dan, a leader of the June Fourth Movement, commented on his Facebook page that Biden’s foreign policy speech formally positioned the CCP as a “competitor” rather than a “threat,” which is a sign of dialogue. Biden’s foreign policy speech officially positioned the CCP as a “competitor” rather than a “threat,” and can be seen as a return to the “appeasement manifesto. Wang Dan pointed out that the positioning of “competitor” itself is absurd. The so-called “competition” means that both sides will abide by a set of rules of the game, otherwise how can they compete? But does the Chinese Communist Party today have any intention of abiding by international rules? A person who does not follow the rules can only be a saboteur and a disruptor, how can he be a “competitor”?
Wang Dan believes that in the future, the word “confrontation” will not appear in the U.S. policy toward China, and “negotiation” and “dialogue” will become the mode of interaction again. Biden’s China Policy will make “the United States and the West pay the price for this.
Under Wang Dan’s post, netizens are also overwhelmingly worried that the U.S. will repeat the same mistakes it has made over the past 40 years in its China policy, and that the U.S. may be in decline as a result. Some said, “Now the leftists in the U.S. are in full swing, and in two or three years, after China rides on the head of the U.S., the U.S. mainstream will wake up, and then Pompeo will come out to turn the situation around and completely destroy the Chinese Communist regime.” Some people said, “I’ve seen Biden’s hand and foot, the continuation of the Democratic Party Obama’s pro-communist line, the United States will pay the price, and Europe is not far behind!” Some worry: “The fear is that Taiwan will also pay the price.”
Just before Biden’s speech on the 4th, a January 22 report in the Wall Street Journal cited sources familiar with the matter as revealing that U.S. Justice Department officials are considering an Amnesty program that would allow U.S. academics to disclose past foreign funding they received without fear of punishment for disclosure. The Biden administration has said it may offer amnesty to researchers and scholars with ties to China or halt investigations. One of the reasons they gave was that investigations are costly and consume resources.
And during the Trump administration, the U.S. government has prosecuted a number of scholars who secretly received funding from China. An advisory committee to the National Institutes of health (NIH) had released a report in late 2018 that said a small group of foreign researchers in the U.S. were receiving U.S. government funds while transferring U.S. intellectual property to their respective countries, leaving academic institutions across the country as victims. The report focused on the Communist Party’s “Thousand Talents Program” to recruit talent overseas.
Meanwhile, senior Trump officials and Republican incumbents are already concerned about the “reversal” of Biden’s China policy, fearing that China is not a normal competitor to the United States, but a threat. U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Texas) introduced 13 amendments Feb. 3 to oppose the Democratic budget agenda and focus on limiting the China and Iran threats. In a lengthy list of amendments, Blackburn called for the creation of a deficit-neutral reserve fund to “prevent the support or implementation of the Chinese Communist Party’s civil-military integration strategy.
A press release posted on Rep. Blackburn’s official website said, “For those researchers in the United States with ties to the Chinese Communist Party, the Biden administration is keeping the door open to amnesty for these individuals, which jeopardizes our national security.” “Many of these researchers are spying for the Chinese Communist Party while stealing sensitive U.S. technology and trade secrets. The eradication and investigation of such threats must not be inhibited by a lack of resources.” She wants to provide available funding to combat Chinese educational and research-based espionage.
Another amendment proposed by Blackburn targets China-based huawei and urges the U.S. government to ban purchases of telecommunications equipment made by the company. “China, along with state-run company Huawei, is seeking to push technology ‘tainted’ by it on the United States and our allies,” Blackburn said. “We need to draw a hard line to protect our national security interests and intellectual property. As long as the target is using Huawei-supplied equipment, Beijing can activate embedded spyware at any Time it wishes. The U.S. government should not purchase any Huawei equipment.”
In a Fox News interview that aired Thursday (Feb. 4), former Secretary of State Pompeo said China uses technology and Chinese-made apps to obtain personal data on U.S. citizens, then combs the data with artificial intelligence technology and uses it as a weapon against the United States. He urged the Biden administration to retain the Trump Administration‘s sanctions against Chinese technology companies, stressing that they are intended to protect Americans from harm.
Pompeo noted, “These (Chinese) technologies that are infiltrating the United States and infiltrating Europe are being used by our children, used by us, in cars, in televisions, in things (Chinese technologies) that are used in cell phones and phones. That information, including information about Americans, whether it’s our personal information, information about the circumstances of our lives and who we’re with, or information about our medical conditions and DNA information, can be sent to the Chinese national security services.”
In a Feb. 3 tweet, Pompeo also wrote, “Not only has China destroyed millions of American jobs, but they are hiding in the shadows, they are lobbying members of Congress, they are working with school boards and city councils in an effort to change our way of Life. We, and our allies, must take the Chinese threat seriously.”
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