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  • China is testing President Biden

  • With the most aggressive action against Taiwan yet

  • How will the Biden Administration Handle China?

  • Welcome to China Uncensored, I'm Chris Chappell.

  • This episode is sponsored by Surfshark Alert.

  • It helps detect if your private information has been leaked online, or is part of a data

  • breach.

  • So, just days into Biden's Presidency, the Chinese Communist Party issued its first military

  • challengeby flying warplanes close to Taiwan.

  • Just a few days after US President Joe Biden took office, Washington and Beijing are battling

  • in a show of force in the South China Sea, following reports from Taiwan of a large incursion

  • of Chinese warplanes for the second straight day

  • This weekend marked an escalation.

  • China dispatched fighters and bombers, rather than reconnaissance aircraft, as had generally

  • been the case.

  • This was a major challenge to Biden by the Communist Party

  • It comes after the Trump Administration offered unprecedented US support for Taiwan,

  • from weapons sales

  • to high level diplomatic visits.

  • Pompeo even reframed the entire US Taiwan relationship.

  • But was it really a trap for Biden?

  • In a sense, yes.

  • The Trump Administration basically put Biden in a position where he either carries on US

  • support for Taiwan, angering Chinese leaders, or he changes course, and sends out signals

  • he's going soft on the Chinese Communist Party

  • The Biden Administration started with an important foreign policy signal by inviting Taiwan's

  • de facto ambassador to the US to President Biden's inauguration.

  • It was the first time that a Taiwanese official had attended an inauguration since 1979.

  • The Chinese Communist Party also tested Biden almost immediately with their aircraft incursions

  • over Taiwan

  • And in response to the Chinese aircraft incursion, Biden's State Department said, “Our commitment

  • to Taiwan is rock-solid.”

  • And also this:

  • A U.S. aircraft carrier group has entered the South China Sea, the U.S. military said

  • on Sunday...

  • The carriers entered the South China Sea on Saturday, the same day Taiwan reported a large

  • incursion of Chinese bombers and fighter jets into its air space in the vicinity of the

  • Pratas Islands.

  • This comes after more than a year of the Chinese military ramping up pressure on Taiwan.

  • Chinese jets violated Taiwan's airspace about 380 times in 2020 and have continued

  • to carry out such incursions on a nearly daily basis this year, according to Taiwan's Ministry

  • of National Defense.”

  • We did an episode a few weeks ago about how these incursions are part of the Communist

  • Party's “gray zonewar tactics against Taiwan

  • Those are tactics designed to exhaust the Taiwanese military and make it harder for

  • Taiwan to defend itself against the Chinese Communist Party.

  • According to a former Pentagon policy chief, Taiwan will be a flashpoint for the Biden

  • Administration.

  • Will the Biden administration continue to stand up for Taiwan?

  • I hope so.

  • Because if Taiwan falls, where else am I going to get those tasty little pineapple cakes?

  • Meanwhile, China's Communist leader Xi Jinping spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

  • Where he called for unity.

  • And global cooperation.

  • Because if we don't cooperate, there could be a new cold war.

  • Of course, we're already in a new cold war, one that the Chinese Communist Party started.

  • But that's not the point

  • The point, according to Xi's speech, is that we shouldall join hands and let multilateralism

  • light our way toward a community with a shared future for mankind.”

  • That's exactly the kind of message that the World Economic Forum eats right up.

  • And it really worked last time Xi gave a similar speech at Davos, back in 2017.

  • But now it's 2021.

  • And no one can join hands to do anything anymore, because of the coronavirus.

  • Which initially spread around the world thanks to a coverup by the Chinese Communist Party.

  • So while Xi Jinping used all of the right words at Davos, where people love to talk

  • about how great multilateralism and global cooperation are, people are a little more

  • skeptical this time.

  • And they should be.

  • BecauseXi essentially proposed a multilateralism with Chinese characteristicsdesigned to

  • ensure that international interactions be conducted in accordance with China's perspectives.” 

  • Basically, Xi Jinping's message was that China is strong, and the rest of the world

  • had better cooperate.

  • Which is also what he said back in 2017, but the rest of the world might actually be listening

  • now.

  • Speaking of Xi Jinping's speech at Davos back in 2017, guess who was listening in the

  • audience?

  • Then Vice-President Joe Biden!

  • Back in 2017, Xi might have still called Biden anold friendas he did in 2013.

  • But are they still old friends in 2021?

  • Well, the Chinese Communist Party hopes so.

  • They're using diplomatic back channels to push for a high-level meeting to ease tensions

  • with the US.

  • They're offering to cooperate with the US on issues like climate change and the coronavirus

  • pandemic

  • So where does the Biden Administration stand on this

  • Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has said that it's possible the US and China could

  • cooperate on issues like climate change

  • Although he also reaffirmed that he believed that China is committing genocide against

  • the Uyghurs.

  • So, kind of mixed messages there

  • Meanwhile, the Biden Administration has signaled that they're in no rush to meet with Chinese

  • officials

  • At a press briefing over the weekend, White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced

  • the Biden Administration China policy— “strategic patience.”

  • I can hear Xi Jinping trembling.

  • Patiently.

  • If strategic patience isn't entirely reassuring to America's allies in Asia, the new U.S.

  • Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin did reaffirm the US commitment to Japan to defend islands

  • disputed with China.

  • In Japanese, these are called the Senkaku Islands.

  • And if the US doesn't defend its allies from the Chinese Communist Party, those alliances

  • amount to Sen-kaka.

  • The Biden Administration is also under pressure from Republican lawmakers to maintain a tough

  • on China approach.

  • Senators Marco Rubio, Ben Sasse, Tom Cotton, and Mitt Romney even wrote a letter to Biden's

  • Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen to do just that.

  • The letter says, “As a key advisor to President Biden on national security issues that involve

  • the most powerful and sophisticated tools of economic statecraft, it is critical that

  • you demonstrate to Congress that your decisions will be informed by a clear-eyed view of the

  • threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to the United States.”

  • This comes after Yellen's opening statement at a confirmation hearing before the Senate

  • Finance Committee.

  • She did not mention China or the Chinese Communist Party.

  • Republicans and Democrats then challenged her on China.

  • She said the Biden Administration will address China's “illegal, unfair and abusive

  • practices.

  • And said, “China is clearly our most important strategic competitor.”

  • So in addition to strategic patience, the Biden Administration seems to be carrying

  • on the Trump Administration's designation of China as a strategic competitor.

  • Under Obama, China had been called a strategic partner.

  • Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also called

  • on Biden to stick to his promises to be tough on Chinese social media companies like TikTok

  • Biden did agree with the Trump Administration that TikTok was a genuine concern.

  • So basically, between Chinese military incursions in Taiwan and Republican pressure at home,

  • everyone wants to see how Biden handles China.

  • So far, so good.

  • But really, President Biden should just come on China Uncensored and make his stance known.

  • The Philippines are protesting a new Chinese law they're calling a verbal threat of war.

  • China's Coast Guard Law, which was passed on Friday, empowers the force to 'take all

  • necessary measures, including the use of weapons, when national sovereignty, sovereign rights,

  • and jurisdiction are being illegally infringed upon by foreign organizations or individuals

  • at sea.'”

  • So... now the Chinese Coast Guard can just shoot or capture foreign ships in disputed

  • waters.

  • Which sounds pretty scary, since the Philippines and China have a lot of disputed waters.

  • But has the Philippines tried strategic patience?

  • I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the South China Sea is about to need a whole

  • lot more patience.

  • And possibly more US aircraft carriers.

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  • Once again, I'm Chris Chappell.

  • See you next time.

China is testing President Biden

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