Biden, who listened to ‘Chinese cheerleader’, is his policy toward China?

“Joe Biden has been a cheerleader for the Chinese Communist Party. Biden is on the side of the Communist Party” (Vice President Mike Pence at the US Vice President Candidate TV Debate on October 7, 2020)

“Biden looked only at planting in China.” (Subtitles from the presidential election video posted on President Trump’s YouTube account on April 10, 2020)

U.S. President Joe Biden has an image of pro-jung (親中) for some reason. It is the result of the’negative strategy’ that former President Donald Trump has worked on throughout the presidential election. “President Trump sent out a lot of advertisements to give Biden an image of friend-friendliness,” said Woo Jeong-yeop, head of the American Research Center at Sejong Institute.

However, Biden’s image of friendliness is not completely unfounded. Biden was Vice President of the Obama administration from 2009 to 2017. The Obama administration’s policy toward China was not hard. Obama’s government policy can be summarized like this. ‘Welcome the development of China. I hope to cooperate and compete with the United States. But the rules must be followed. Do not threaten our allies.’

At this time, Biden frequently spoke with President Xi Jinping, who was then vice-president. I met 8 times in 18 months and spent 25 hours. Biden describes himself as the oldest world leader who has seen Xi Jinping from his side.

Biden was also a member of the Obama administration, so his attitude toward China was no different. In his speech at the University of Washington on July 19, 2013, he explained US policy in the Asia-Pacific region as follows:

“We are struggling with the problem of economic relations with China. We see the relationship in terms of a healthy mix of competition and cooperation, not conflict. Competition is good for both as long as the game is fair. China’s growth is overwhelmingly in line with our interests. The growth of the global economy is overwhelmingly in line with our interests.”

Former US President Richard Nixon laid the foundation for US policy toward China by announcing the Nixon Doctrine in 1969. The keynote was an appeasement. The United States has followed it ever since. The United States, while maintaining global hegemony, waited for emerging nations to naturally adapt to their order.

But Xi Jinping’s China was different. Xi Jinping, who took power in 2013, declared. “In order to realize your great dream, you must have a great struggle.” Deng Xiaoping’s policy of hiding himself and waiting for the time was abolished. With the’Chinese Dream’, which means the revival of the Chinese ideology, the China-centered economic integration project’One Belt One Road’ was promoted.

China’s regional hegemony has emerged outright. There was a border dispute with India, and diplomatic conflicts spread with Canada and Australia. The war for economic hegemony with the US also began. Infringement of economic sovereignty and unfair contracts have emerged from all over the world.

From December 2019, Corona 19 from Wuhan, China has spread around the world. Anti-Chinese sentiment spread rapidly as China showed no responsibility to the international community. According to the Pew Research Center, a polling agency, the world’s major countries’ unfavorableness in China reached its highest in 2020.

At present, in the United States, politicians are in a situation where they are unable to advocate a “friendship” policy. Because the people don’t want it. According to the Pew Research Center survey, the US’s unfavorable level in China was 73%, the highest since the 2005 survey. As for China, Republicans and Democrats cooperate bipartisanly. From the Uighur human rights issue to the sanctions on Chinese companies, both the Senate and the House of Representatives have passed the bill.

Eventually, Biden also abandoned the Obama administration’s engagement policy. He said during the February 2020 Democratic Presidential Contest. “Before my retirement, I spent the most time with Xi Jinping among the world’s leaders. Because he is a man of no democratic value and a gangster… ”

“President Trump spoke negatively of China, but limited to trade and coronavirus (negative attitude). It was passive in China’s undemocratic attitude and US political intervention, and only the tariff war was highlighted. However, the Democratic Party believes that the tariff (war) part is not of benefit to the US economy. Biden may also pursue policies that were not promoted by the Trump administration. In particular, there is a high possibility of emphasizing human rights issues like Hong Kong and Uighur.”

It is a symbolic event that Taiwan’s President, Xiao Mei-chin, attended the inauguration ceremony of President Biden after 42 years. The United States ended diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979, when diplomatic relations with China were established. Since then, Taiwanese personnel have not been invited to the inauguration ceremony of the US president.

Biden’s remarks are also tough. Secretary of State Tony Blincoln said at a hearing on the 19th, “I believe that Trump’s public hardline is correct. There are some parts that I don’t agree with quite a bit, but the basic principles were right.” He also said, “I agree that the issue of the Xinjiang camp is a massacre by the Chinese Communist Party.” Finance Minister Janet Yellen said, “China is a terrible human rights violation country. We must fight China’s unfair and illegal practices and deception.” “China is clearly the enemy of the United States in the field of counterintelligence,” said Evril Haynes, Director of National Intelligence. It is the intelligence agency’s job to control China’s aggressive and unfair behavior.”

However, although the strong economic tone is similar, the actual strategy is expected to be different from the Trump administration. Biden is expected to respond to China by building an allied front with democratic countries around the world, centered on allies.

Of course, the Trump administration has also promoted a multilateral alliance to contain China. It is’QUAD (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue)’, a group of four countries in the Indo-Pacific region composed of the United States, India, Japan and Australia. Trump wanted to elevate the character of the meeting, from the level of diplomatic dialogue to military alliances. However, other countries with high dependence on trade with China were under pressure and could not immediately respond to requests. The Trump administration tried to expand the scope of this meeting and build’QUAD Plus’ to include Korea, Vietnam and New Zealand.

Biden plans to expand its scope and hold a’Summit for Democracy’ to unite with democratic countries around the world. It defines China as a’special threat’ that does not follow international norms, and pressures it with countries that share democratic values.

First of all, it is highly likely that advanced countries and Nordic countries belonging to the G7 will be participating in this summit. Korea, a democratic country, is also very likely to become a member of it. “Korea and Japan are the only US allies in Northeast Asia, and the US will be most interested in promoting the anti-Chinese front. The US judges that the security cooperation between Korea and Japan is not smooth due to the historical conflict between Korea and Japan. (The US) will convey the message to Korea that Korea should be more active.”

Biden also values ​​human rights and democracy over Trump. From the beginning, Biden administration officials have been talking about the issue of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang in China. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “Stop interfering with internal affairs.” Korea is also more likely to be asked to join the issue as an ally. This is a challenge that the Trump administration did not have. As early as this year, there may be a moment when the Korean government is also forced to make a choice.

Reporter Jeongbong Lee [email protected]