Why Joe Biden must resist Donald Trump’s tactic of using China as a bogeyman

US President Joe Biden was doing so well on the China front. He reassured allies that Washington is back on their team. He laid down all of the markers clearly for President Xi Jinping (Hong Kong, Xinjiang, Taiwan). He made clear that while cooperation with Beijing is necessary, a return to the failed policy of faith in Beijing’s progression towards being what former US trade representative Robert Zoellick called a “responsible stakeholder” isn’t an option.

Every statement signalled a departure from what went so wrong on this front under Donald Trump. No more of the baffling approach of apocalyptic warnings about Beijing’s intentions to subvert everything that is American and a severing of diplomatic channels, while the commander-in-chief couldn’t resist
lavishing praise on Xi.

Biden’s articulation of his strategy with regard to China allowed US policymakers guided by realism to breathe out four years’ worth of angst.

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