James G. Zumwalt  / November 15, 2021

A 2012 photograph of then Vice President Joe Biden and then First Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping while in Los Angeles shows the two holding up T-shirts with the inscription in English on Biden’s, “Fostering Goodwill Between America & China.”

Nine years later, we see that publicity stunt had no more positive impact on relations between the two nations than did the photograph of a 2009 publicity stunt by then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

In that photo, Clinton is seen presenting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a red “reset” button – symbolizing hopes of improving ties.

Lavrov was somewhat befuddled by the gesture as the Russian word for “reset” on the button was mistranslated, using instead the word “overcharge” which, obviously, made no sense. 

In the 2012 photograph, there seems to be a bit of a smirk on Xi’s face, as if he knows something Biden (unsurprisingly) does not.

Keeping in mind the Wuhan laboratory was already working on developing a deadly virus, designed but for one purpose, Xi’s smirk understandably could have betrayed something BIden did not know then and, sadly, still fails to register with him today.

Xi’s smirk also could have suggested his hope that he would soon see Biden in the Oval Office as he needed a lightweight U.S. president there to assist China in undermining America’s economy and military might as well as winning back Taiwan. 

There is evidence now, according to a Chinese whistleblower, suggesting that, in Biden’s run for the presidential roses eight years later, Xi played a major role in guaranteeing his election. The claim is China had five million absentee ballots printed prior to the November 2020 election and put into play.

 If true, it is no wonder why Biden received more votes than any other president in U.S. history.

Undoubtedly, if confronted with this allegation, we could expect our mentally-challenged president to argue that could not be true as none of the ballots had “made in China” printed on them!

While Biden and Xi have engaged in telephone conversations twice since the former took office, on the evening of November 15th they will hold a virtual summit.

It is anticipated that their discussions will include a major hotspot issue – Taiwan – as well as human rights and trade, all in hopes of reaching agreement on reducing increased tensions between the U.S. and China.

We need to reflect upon two previous incidents that are most telling about how China views its relationship with the U.S. and how Biden views it.

The first incident occurred shortly after Biden announced his candidacy for president on April 25, 2019. A week later, campaigning in Iowa, he stated that concerns China could eventually surpass the U.S. as a world superpower and economic force were overstated.

“China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man. I mean, you know, they’re not bad folks, folks. But guess what?  They’re not competition for us.”

The second incident occurred in March 2021 when Secretary of State Tony Blinken met in Alaska with a Beijing delegation headed by Chinese foreign affairs chief Yang Jiechi.

Blinken called out China for various human rights abuses, urging it to obey the “rules-based international order.” Admonishing China, Blinken said... 

..."Each of these actions threaten the rules-based order that maintains global stability. That’s why they’re not merely internal matters and why we feel an obligation to raise these issues...

...The United States’ relationship with China will be competitive where it should be, collaborative where it can be, adversarial where it must be.”

But Yang would have none of it.

Undoubtedly motivated by Biden’s earlier perception expressed in his Iowa statement about China’s weakness, he launched into his own attacks on U.S. human rights – with anti-American groups in the U.S., such as Black Lives Matter, providing him with plenty of ammunition.

In a twenty minute tirade, Yang countered Blinken, calling the “so-called rules-based international order” he mentioned as the “United Nations-centered international system” and a tool of the U.S.

He accused the U.S. of speaking to China in a condescending manner when it “does not have the qualification to say that it wants to speak to China from a position of strength.”

Yang continued his barrage adding, “The challenges facing the United States in human rights are deep-seated. They did not just emerge over the past four years, such as Black Lives Matter.”

He lectured that, “We believe that it is important for the United States to change its own image and to stop advancing its own democracy in the rest of the world.  Many people within the United States actually have little confidence in the democracy of the United States.”

As the U.S. – China virtual summit takes place tonight, we should all feel sorry for the translators involved as they will have to make sense out of Biden’s anticipated ramblings.  But it is clear that it will be China speaking from a position of strength to our position of weakness.

While there is a challenging list of issues for discussion, Biden’s “America Last” policy will play directly into the hands of Xi’s “China First” policy, allowing the Chinese president to stick to his guns concerning Taiwan and not to take criticism about human rights abuses about Hong Kong or the Uyghurs. 

Having shirked any responsibility for the Uyghurs, claiming the issue was not in his “lane,” climate czar John Kerry has signaled to Beijing that the Uyghurs may be ignored due to China’s agreement to some unimpressive climate control promises.

Doubtful too is that Biden will press Xi for his obvious intentions in building mock-ups of U.S. aircraft carriers in the middle of the desert. Any suggestion coming out of the summit otherwise on these or other issues will undoubtedly be but another failed publicity stunt moment.

Never before in the U.S. – China relationship has China felt so empowered by such a weak U.S. president to pursue its ultimate goals. And it recognizes, should Biden be impeached or die in office, an even more inept Vice President Kamala Harris would come to office.

For Xi, the stars are definitely in alignment to milk the relationship for all he can get now.