Tough Talk, Warm Embrace: Biden, Wall Street & China
“Biden talks tough on China in first speech to Congress.” That was a Reuters headline on April 28, 2021.
“China and other countries are closing in fast,” Biden warned. “We have to develop and dominate the products and technologies of the future.” And, he pledged, under a Biden administration, “America will stand up to unfair trade practices that undercut American workers and American industries, like subsidies to state-owned enterprises and the theft of American technology and intellectual property.” This followed the much-ballyhooed “tough talk” by Biden’s Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in a March 19 meeting with Chinese counterparts in Anchorage, Alaska.
By the time of his televised address to Congress in April, Biden’s handlers had been coaching him on China tough talk for more than a year. They recognized that President Trump’s rhetoric and actions concerning China had struck a responsive chord with the American public. During the Democratic primaries, a Trump-awakened Biden referred to Chinese dictator Xi Jinping as a “thug.” That was a far cry from his many earlier references to Xi as an old friend. Biden and Xi met a number of times — in China and the United States — while both were vice presidents. Biden boasted many times about their close relationship and claimed he had spent more time with Xi than had any other world leader. In 2013, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) elevated Xi to president of the People’s Republic of China. Then-Vice President Biden journeyed to Beijing in December of 2013 for another meetup with the new Paramount Leader. Xi welcomed Biden as “my old friend,” and Biden reciprocated, warmly noting their “friendship.” When President/Thug/Friend Xi visited the Obama White House in 2015, he said it was “such a delight” to see Joe Biden, whom he called “an old friend.” At the same White House event, Biden recounted that following his many meetings with Xi, he had told President Obama “that I came away impressed with [Xi’s] candor, determination, and his capacity.”
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