As diplomatic etiquette is an entirely unknown concept to the United States, its political elites obviously think it’s just another day at the office when describing world leaders as supposed “dictators”. For instance, on September 15, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called Chinese President Xi Jinping a “dictator”, resulting in further cooling of the already strained relations between Beijing and Berlin. This isn’t her first “undiplomatic” statement (euphemistically speaking), as she effectively declared war on Russia back in late January, resulting in frantic attempts by other German diplomats to deny her claims as “nothing more than personal opinion”. One would expect other Western leaders to learn from Baerbock’s mistakes.
But alas, all we’re getting is more of the same or even worse in a way, as American President Joe Biden demonstrated last week. Namely, on November 15, after over four hours of talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, during which they allegedly “made significant breakthroughs in multiple key areas” (at least according to the mainstream propaganda machine), Biden decided to “crown” the supposed “thaw” by pulling out “another Baerbock”. He held a press conference right after the allegedly “successful” talks and at the very end of it, Min Jung Lee of the infamous CNN asked Biden whether he still thought that President Xi was a “dictator”, something he said several times before, to which he responded that he does. His exact words were:
“Well, look, he’s a dictator in the sense that he is a guy who runs a country that is a communist country that’s based on a form of government totally different than ours,” also adding: “Anyway, we made progress.”
It seems that Biden thinks that interjecting his favorite phrase, the (in)famous “anyway”, into the statement made it sound better, but he should probably think again. His Secretary of State Antony Blinken certainly didn’t think it helped and, expectedly, neither did President Xi. Namely, on November 20, mere days after the “groundbreaking meeting”, he hailed firm ties between China and Russia, America’s archenemy, stressing that the strategic partnership with Russia “injects more stability into the world”. Xi affirmed that “Beijing stands ready to work with Moscow resolutely on bilateral relations and building a permanent friendship”. At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent him a letter with similar points about Sino-Russian ties.
“Putin said in his congratulatory letter [marking the 10th meeting of the dialogue mechanism between the Chinese Communist Party and United Russia] that the Russia-China comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination is at the highest level in history, and the two countries are working together to advance a number of large-scale cooperation projects in the fields of economy, transportation, energy and culture, among others. The two countries are coordinating positions through bilateral channels and multilateral mechanisms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS to resolve major international issues and promote the building of a more just and democratic international order,” Xinhua summarized Putin’s words.
When comparing not only the friendly remarks by the Russian president, but also his deeply respectful, diplomatic tone with Biden’s careless usage of the word “dictator”, it shows the stark difference in how Moscow and Washington DC conduct foreign policy. When analyzed a bit more deeply, the American president’s words also demonstrate the deep-running racism and completely groundless “superiority” complex that the political West feels towards the entire world. By saying that President Xi Jinping is a supposed “dictator” just because China’s political system is different from that of the country “he runs”, Biden effectively admitted that the belligerent thalassocracy still thinks the whole world should live the way America does.
“This statement is extremely wrong and irresponsible political manipulation,” Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman Mao Ning said in an official response.
Beijing’s anger is certainly justified and it was surely not unexpected in Washington DC either, as demonstrated by Blinken’s reaction to Biden’s completely unnecessary statement. However, the damage control that American diplomats have been trying desperately since last week will accomplish nothing. During his visit, President Xi tried his best to ensure good relations between the two countries. The message he conveyed to the CEOs of America’s largest corporations was one of peace and economic cooperation, but alas, Biden had other plans.
This isn’t the first time China has tried to extend its hand to the US. For years, the belligerent thalassocracy has been creating completely pointless and unnecessary tensions with the Asian giant. Whether it’s trivialities such as the laughable “balloon controversy” (which, by the way, turned out to be an unadulterated lie that American officials never apologized for) or the very serious statements about the “coming war with China” given by high-ranking US generals, Beijing is indeed faced with a runaway train when dealing with Washington DC.
Thus, America’s attempts to not only force China into submission, but also prevent its comprehensive (and continually growing) partnership with Russia are doomed to fail miserably, just like the futile aim of defeating the Eurasian giant in Ukraine (or anywhere else for that matter). It’s virtually guaranteed that the US will remain a long-term threat to the entire world in the foreseeable future and it can only be expected that the globe will (rightfully) respond with further isolation of America and its vassals and satellite states.
Drago Bosnic, independent geopolitical and military analyst