WASHINGTON (AP) – The United States’ relations with its two biggest geopolitical rivals are facing tough tests as President Joe Biden tries to assert America’s place in the world and distinguish itself from its predecessor.
Filing numerous complaints, the Biden government took an unusually hard line with China and Russia last week. Public discussions between countries broke out when Biden characterized Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “killer” and his top national security advisers criticized China for a litany of issues.
Moscow and Beijing both reacted, setting the stage for months, if not longer, for escalating tensions that are unlikely to be resolved without intense leadership level discussions and major concessions on all sides.
Biden himself initiated the latest round of recriminations in a television interview in which he sought to draw clear differences between his policies in Russia and those of former President Donald Trump. who was accused of being mild to Putin. Just 24 hours later, Biden’s top diplomat and national security adviser attacked Chinese officials in face-to-face conversations.
While Biden’s strong comments about Putin reflected a shift in Trump’s often conciliatory approach to the Kremlin, the harsh criticisms directed at China by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan in many ways reflected the government’s hard line previous in relation to Beijing.
The contrasting styles suggest that Biden intends to reverse years of perceived weakness in the U.S. vis-à-vis Russia, while rejecting Trump’s claims in the 2020 campaign that he is not tough enough with China.
In taking a firm stand on Russia, Biden said that the days when the United States “rolled” over to Putin are over. And in the ABC interview broadcast on Wednesday, Biden answered “yes” when asked if he thought Putin was a “killer”. Russia responded by summoning its ambassador to Washington for consultations.
Putin then countered by pointing to the history of slavery in the United States, the massacre of Native Americans and the atomic bombing of Japan in World War II in a “it takes a-to-know-one” response.
Meanwhile, on Thursday in Alaska, China’s top two diplomats responded in a similar way to criticisms by Blinken and Sullivan about Beijing’s human rights record in western Xinjiang and Tibet and their aggressive actions in Hong Kong , Taiwan and the South China Sea.
Communist Party foreign policy chief Yang Jiechi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi accused the United States of hypocrisy for condemning China while, at the same time, struggling with its own internal problems, including violence against Asian Americans and others people of color and political unrest after the 2020 presidential elections.
Blinken and Sullivan resented these comments and replied that the United States was not perfect, but sought to address these issues openly and honestly. Sullivan said that Americans’ willingness to confront their shortcomings was the “secret sauce” of America’s success.
And they sought to reshape US-China relations in the context of the Biden government’s resolution to address these issues, strengthen the US economy and improve ties with democratic allies in Asia, such as Australia, Japan and South Korea.
Blinken, having just made a trip to Japan and South Korea with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, made it clear to the Chinese that the United States is aligned with its allies.
“I must say that what I am hearing is very different from what you have described,” he said to Wang and Yang. “I am hearing profound satisfaction that the United States is back, that we are again engaged with our allies and partners. I am also hearing deep concern about some of the actions that your government has taken. “
Blinken seems to have impressed his boss. “I am very proud of the Secretary of State,” said Biden after the impatient talks in Anchorage.
A similar effort with allies is underway in Europe in relation to Russia.
Blinken will leave for Brussels on Monday for talks with NATO and European Union officials aimed at repairing tensions caused by Trump’s largely transactional diplomacy. Trump’s bragging, the threats of trade wars and the intense demands that Europe pay more for his defense have irritated many, especially in the two great powers of the continent: France and Germany.
This trip aims to highlight “the Biden government’s determination to strengthen the transatlantic alliance and reinvigorate our ties with allies through NATO”, with a view to the challenges posed by both Russia and China, the State Department said.
Russia’s relations with the United States and the European Union had already dropped to post-Cold War levels after Moscow’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, meddling in elections, hacker attacks and, more recently, the arrest of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny after his poisoning, which he attributed to the Kremlin. Russian authorities rejected the accusations.
Then, the office of the U.S. Director of National Intelligence released a report finding that Putin authorized influence operations to help Trump’s reelection candidacy. The Biden government warned that Russia would face sanctions soon for its attempt to influence the election and widespread hacking of SolarWinds.
“(Putin) is going to pay a price,” Biden said in the ABC interview when asked about the disqualified report.