Chronic. At the end of the first meeting between his administration and senior Chinese officials, on March 18 and 19 in Alaska, US President Joe Biden said to himself “Very proud of his secretary of state”. As we know, Antony Blinken set the tone – icy – for exchanges from the first minute by evoking Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Taiwan and reiterating his favorite formula: “Our relationship with China will be competitive when it needs to be, collaborative when it can be, and antagonistic when necessary. “ Unfortunately, we do not know what the Chinese president thought of the performance of Yang Jiechi, the member of the political bureau who headed the delegation. But there is no doubt that Xi Jinping had given his approval to the opening statements so little diplomatic of this one. Not only the content but also the totally unusual length – sixteen minutes – of his first speech constitutes an explicit signal: China no longer intends to respect the rules, even purely formal, decided by others.
China was under no illusions. She knew she wouldn’t have it easy. Since his arrival at the White House, Joe Biden has sent no message, even symbolic, marking a “new beginning” of Sino-American relations. On the contrary, seen from Beijing, Biden is Trump plus human rights. So Trump is worse off. Customs tariffs? Maintained. The measures against Huawei, ZTE and other Chinese technological flagships? Reinforced. The humiliating list of officials sanctioned by name because of the policy pursued in Xinjiang or Hong Kong? Extended. The same is true in the diplomatic field with the strengthening of alliances and partnerships between the United States and the countries of the Indo-Pacific. In mid-March, Mr. Blinken went so far as to call Taiwan « pays », which even the Trump administration had refrained from doing.
If we compare the relationship between the two administrations to a boxing match – as did Evan Medeiros, former adviser to Barack Obama -, it is clearly China which, for a few weeks, has been taking the blows.
Beginning of a “glorious millennium”
Yet, far from feeling on the ropes, China believes it is winning the match. The QUAD? What does this informal alliance between the United States, Japan, Australia and India weigh in the face of the free trade agreement (RCEP) concluded in November 2020 between China, the countries of ASEAN (to l except India) but also Japan and Australia? On Thursday, Yang Jiechi did not fail to recall that Asean, Japan and South Korea are China’s first, second and third trading partners.
You have 41.76% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
–
