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Published | 2023/11/17 |
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Status | article incomplete |
Beau says:
Biden's response to a sensitive question on China's head of state sparks outrage domestically and requires diplomatic smoothing over with little likely damage to U.S.-Chinese relations.
Foreign Policy Enthusiasts
Insights on the potential long-term effects of the incident and the importance of carefully navigating sensitive diplomatic topics.
#Biden #China #ForeignPolicy #Diplomacy #USChinaRelations
Well, howdy there, internet people.
Let's bow again.
So today we are going to talk about Biden
and foreign policy in China and a single word
and the reactions to it.
We'll run through the domestic side of things
and we'll talk about the foreign policy side of things.
We'll talk about whether or not it is as huge a deal
as it is being made out to be
and just kind of run through everything.
If you don't know what happened, immediately after having an incredibly successful meeting,
working out agreements, everything going great, as far as making the relationship between
the United States and China a wee bit better, Biden is asked a question.
you still think that the Chinese out of state is a dictator? Everybody who pays a little
bit of attention to foreign policy held their breath. And Biden was like, yes, there's an
angle of this exchange where the camera is actually focused on the Secretary of State.
And when he said yes, every foreign policy person in the world made the exact same face
that he did, which was basically, you know.
If Blinken had had a mic on him, I am certain that whatever he muttered under his breath
would have to be bleeped.
It is not ideal.
The Chinese government is incredibly sensitive to their head of state being called a dictator.
not something they like.
Okay, so let's start with the political stuff at home.
It's a no-win.
Politically, at home, it is a no-win.
Once that question was asked, it's the people who are mad,
who are saying, ha, he doesn't know what to say.
He called the Chinese head of state a dictator.
Bad Biden, bad.
He's unfit.
If he had said no, they would be saying
that Biden had joined the Chinese Communist Party
and won't call him a dictator.
About the only acceptable answer to that question
would have just been, we're here in the spirit of goodwill.
They have an entirely different form of government.
That's not what we're here to talk about today and walk off.
Politically at home, had he done that, they would have been like, Biden refuses to call
the Chinese head of state a dictator.
So politically at home, those people who are upset, they would be generating outrage over
it no matter what he said, doesn't matter.
Foreign policy-wise, I mean, yeah, that's not ideal.
There are definitely people smoothing that over as we speak, at least attempting to.
The good news is that Biden did leave them a lot of wiggle room to do that, because he
didn't just say yes and stop.
He said yes.
He runs a communist country.
It's an entirely different form of government.
And there was more of an explanation to it this time, which will allow the diplomats
to go in there and be like look you know we work with actual kingdoms you know real dictators
real people who just have total control so maybe y'all are being a little bit sensitive to this and
we're sorry about it we'll we'll we'll talk to biden we'll talk to the boss and blah blah blah
and hopefully be able to smooth it over. Is this a huge detriment to U.S.-Chinese
relations? No. There will probably be a show, some posturing, you know, there will
be some some protest at the use of the word, but it's it is unlikely that it
causes a whole lot of damage. The Chinese head of state is not an
ignorant man. In fact, some of the things that he said demonstrate clearly that
maybe China has a better grasp on the potential relationship between the
United States and China than the US does. You know, he did kind of go out of his
way to be like, it doesn't matter that we're having tensions, it's not like we
can ignore each other, paraphrasing, which is true. So the real foreign policy fallout,
probably not going to be a lot. There's going to be a lot of posturing and stuff
for domestic audiences, but it's unlikely that it causes a huge issue. It could, but
If it does, it's because those people going into smooth it over, you know, if they for
whatever reason would take like a hardline approach over it and be like, no, you are
a dictator or something like that, it would have, there would have to be another mistake
made to compound the statement that Biden made for it to get bad.
And by bad, in this case, I'm not talking about like a war or anything like that.
to just undoing the goodwill that was generated during this visit.
So, I mean, it's not ideal.
But once that question was asked, Biden couldn't say no with the framing that is
going into the world right now, where it's democracy versus authoritarianism.
If the country isn't a democracy in the sense of the Western view of it, they're going to be framed on the other side of
that.
And maybe even if they are, if they align with China, they'll still be framed that way.
But that framing of democracy versus authoritarianism, it's going to come into play.
So there's going to be language like this.
If you weren't paying attention during the Cold War, you might see this as a new development.
It's not.
I mean, nobody's banging a shoe on a table or anything like that.
It's not great, and there was kind of a way out of it from the foreign policy side.
Biden could have said, you know, that's not what we're here to discuss, we're talking
about progress, you know, and dodged the question for diplomacy sake.
If he had done that, it would have created an issue domestically as far as politics goes.
But realistically, the people who are generating the outrage, they don't know anything about
foreign policy anyway, most of them, and it didn't matter what he said.
They would have found a way to frame it in a negative light.
I doubt any of them would suggest that the right answer would be to dodge the question,
I can assure you that the people who are working to smooth things over, that's
what they wish he had done. So mistake, yeah, huge, probably not. It creates more
work for State Department on the foreign policy side. Domestically, it didn't
matter because the people providing the commentary, they're looking for a gotcha
a moment, not actual criticism. I would wonder out of those people who are saying he shouldn't
have called him that, and this was a big mistake and it proves that he's unfit, I would wonder
if any of them would say that the head of China isn't a dictator. I'm willing to bet
they wouldn't. Anyway, it's just a thought. Y'all have a good day.
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