China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi warns Biden not to cross China's 'red line'

https://www.straitstimes.com ^ | UPDATED FEB 2, 2021, 2:54 PM | Staff

[Red Badger]

China’s top diplomat warned the US not to cross the country’s “red line,” in a pointed speech that pushed back against early moves by President Joe Biden to press Beijing on human rights.

Yang Jiechi, who sits on the Communist Party’s 25-member Politburo, said in a video address to a New York-based US-China group that the two sides “stand at a key moment” to rebuild ties and cooperate after Biden’s inauguration.

But he placed the onus on the US to repair the damage caused by the “misguided policies” of former President Donald Trump.

“We in China hope that the United States will rise above the outdated mentality of zero-sum, major-power rivalry and work with China to keep the relationship on the right track,” Yang said, a former foreign minister.

Yang urged the US to stop “harassing Chinese students, restricting Chinese media outlets, shutting down Confucius Institutes and suppressing Chinese companies” and said Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang affairs were a “red line that must not be crossed.”

The speech to the National Committee on US-China Relations represented Beijing’s most high-profile appeal to an American audience since Biden took power on Jan 20.

Chinese President Xi Jinping was among the last world leaders to congratulate Biden on his election victory over Trump in November, and the two men have yet to speak after the inauguration.

The Democratic administration has signalled a desire to maintain the pressure on China from trade and human rights. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday during an appearance on MSNBC that the US should give “haven” to people fleeing political repression in Hong Kong.

He had previously said that China’s policies toward its Muslim minority in Xinjiang amounted to genocide.

“So far, all signs on both sides are that neither wants to appear too eager to make the first move in moderating the bilateral tensions,” Avery Goldstein, a University of Pennsylvania professor of global politics and international relations, said before Yang’s speech.

“Despite the transition to a new administration in the US, continuity rather than change in this troubled relationship prevails.”

Yang’s message to the US was consistent with a view in Beijing that the US’s erratic policies were being driven by deepening fissures in American society, rather than its own policies.

Chinese diplomats in recent weeks have repeatedly dismissed Trump’s actions as “madness,” laying the blame for the deterioration in ties at Washington’s feet.

“Yang’s message is very clear. After four years of turmoil under Trump, it’s time for both sides to take a moment and reflect,” said Zhu Feng, professor of international relations at Nanjing University.

“The madness of Trump’s China policy – ripe with hate – has turned out to be a failure. The US should reflect upon such damages on the bilateral ties.”

Both sides do appear interested in lowering the temperature from the Twitter-fuelled policy shocks of recent years. While Yang called on the US to stop labelling China as “strategic competitor,” Blinken played down the risk of a clash between the two nuclear-armed powers.

“There are adversarial aspects to the relationship, there’s certainly competitive ones, and there’s still some cooperative ones, too,” Blinken said on MSNBC. “But whether we’re dealing with any of those aspects of the relationship, we have to be able to approach China from a position of strength, not weakness.”

Yang highlighted opportunities for cooperation on issues such as climate change, pandemic relief and macro economic policies. His comments about easing visa pressure on Chinese students and media pointed to one possible area of compromise. Biden’s Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell said last month that the US could reverse such actions to build confidence with China.

The speech included a symbolic nod to the decades-long project to maintain ties between the US and China. The National Committee on US-China Relations played a role in the “ping-pong diplomacy” that helped start talks between the Cold War rivals in the 1970s.

“It would be a mistake to think that a return to more familiar interlocutors means that issues of great concerns will recede,” the committee’s chairman, former Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, said while introducing Yang.

The Biden administration’s vow to better defend liberal values such as human rights and democracy is one such great concern. In recent days, US officials have reaffirmed support for democracy advocates in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

“These are the issues that US will definitely touch,” Shi Yinhong, director of Renmin University’s Centre on American Studies in Beijing. “The confrontation over these issues will continue.”

[Uncle Miltie]

Zapping Bidun’s bark collar.

[Richard Axtell]

Asterisk may not understand this, but he is being treated like a servant. And his employer happens to be one of the worst human rights violators in modern history. Some people just don’t seem to know their place.

[spudville]

You hear that Joe? Toe your masters line, NOW! He’ll snap to immediately.

[BBQToadRibs2]

Some solid diplomacy there.

[GeneralisimoFranciscoFranco]

There’s a joke in there about a biden and lines....

[Nathan _in_Arkansas]

Weakness results in your enemies getting brave.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

I assume like B.Hussein we are going to see bowing again.

[SkyDancer]

Red line would be Taiwan. Joe will let them try (try) to take it.

[DoughtyOne]

Chairman Jao will snap to.

Never fear...

[circlecity]

The Chicoms want a return on all those bribes they paid Joe.

[Aevery_Freeman]

Wrong. They taste like chicken-bleep because it's what they are stuffed with.

[Campion]

“Do what we say, Old Man, if you expect us to keep paying you!”

[hinckley buzzard]

It is to be expected that Red China will test the Biden resolve, They have every reason to think the administration will be compliant and seek to propitiate the CCP. We will see.

[Sacajaweau]

Burma is in the equation now, too.

[escapefromboston]

Beijing Biden will take a knee like he did to his black masters of BLM. He isn’t a leader he’s a puppet

[Red Badger]

They know....................

[doc maverick]

They had better warn somebody other than Biden because Biden can’t remember anything he says:

[Harpotoo]

Well that’s funny because their entire line: Front middle and back are all Red:-)

[Grampa Dave]

Fake News. The CCP controls Biden, Willie Brown's Hoe, Susan Rice. Why warn Biden when they own and control him.

Joe Biden, is the best President, China has ever elected in America. Biden is totally owned by the ChiComs/CCP!

"Bobble Head” Biden is wholly owned and controlled by the CCP. The CCP is now allowed to do/say whatever the hell they want to do/say."

The CCP, also, owns and controls Willie Brown’s Hoe & (Dr Pepper Jill & the White and Susan Brown Rice, the pre mixed WOC guide for the Obama Won!). Biden is no leader. He is a puppet. The real leader is Susan Rice, who takes direction from Obama and his elite deep state cabal. Relax and enjoy Chairman Obama and his illegal third term as POTUS!

The good news is the CCP needs us as a prime customer, trainer of new engineers/scientists, as a pipeline for new technology, as a trading partner and as an ally.

If we are not a military threat to them and can help fund & cover/hide their aggression around the world. They and Susan Rice will just control us not bomb us.

The bad news is: They will daily, control more of our lives, during and post Dr. Pepper Jill Biden, Willie Brown’s Hoe and of course Deep State’s and Obama’s Susan Rice.

Heel, Sit and Stay ~! Joe!