[Salon] Will Xi Give Biden a Rude Awakening?



https://www.antiwar.com/blog/2022/11/12/will-xi-give-biden-a-rude-awakening/

Will Xi Give Biden a Rude Awakening?

Posted on November 12, 2022

While Chinese President XI Jinping may couch his words politely, he is not likely to be “inscrutable” in warning the President of the possibility of a two-front war, if the situations in Ukraine and/or Taiwan continue to escalate.

Whether such a warning can get through Biden’s elderly skull or the equally thick skulls of his adolescent advisers is, alas, a different matter. Those amateur advisers would have to give up their benighted view that they can drive a wedge between China and Russia.

Best Friends “Stick Up” for Each Other

President XI has called Putin his “best friend”. Elite, Ivy-mantled bureaucrats in Washington pooh-pooh that as rhetoric. One can only hope they avoid steps that make them learn the hard way to take the “rhetoric” seriously.

When the planned Biden-Xi meeting was announced Wednesday, Biden was asked whether the Chinese and the Russians are “putting together a real alliance,” Biden said:

I don’t think there’s a lot of respect that China has for Russia or for Putin.  I don’t think they’re looking at it as a particular alliance.  Matter of fact, they’ve been sort of keeping their distance a little bit.

Keeping Their Distance

I threw water on the “keeping their distance” claim a couple of days ago. Yesterday, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman was asked about China and Russia “keeping their distance.” This was his reply:

I can tell you that China’s relations with Russia are rock-solid. As each other’s largest neighbors and comprehensive strategic partners of coordination for a new era, the two sides have always … advanced bilateral relations and cooperation in various areas on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit. The long-term sound and steady advancement of China-Russia relations is primarily built on a high degree of mutual trust and strong internal dynamics. China will continue to work with Russia to move forward bilateral relations on a right and steady track. [Emphasis added.]

An American specialist on China suggested to me that perhaps XI will also suggest that Biden learn the Serenity Prayer.

I had almost a half hour yesterday to set the stage for Monday’s summit in Bali.

This originally appeared at RayMcGovern.com.

Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, a publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in inner-city Washington. His 27-year career as a CIA analyst includes serving as Chief of the Soviet Foreign Policy Branch and preparer/briefer of the President’s Daily Brief. He is co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).



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