Blinken Tests Panda Diplomacy

Secretary of State Blinken will pay a visit to President Xi next week at a time when millions of Americans are wondering whether America chose to recognize the wrong China. They will talk as millions of Americans are starting to recognize how hostile Communist China is to America and how the Republic of China on Taiwan is able to choose its leaders through the quaint contraption known as a multi-party election.Communist China, as these columns see it, senses this awakening in America and, at the moment, is, as Nikkei’s London Financial Times puts it, “attempting a course correction.” It reckons that the communist Chinese regime, which is siding with Russia in Ukraine, is “feeling uncomfortably isolated” on the world stage. So Mr. Xi’s camarilla is starting to focus on ties with its largest trading partner, which turns out to be Europe.Chinese officials are trying to palm off on the credulous Europeans the patent falsehood that Beijing had no idea Russia was going to invade Ukraine. “Putin is crazy,” the FT reports a Chinese official as claiming to think, averring that China won’t “simply follow Russia.” Will Mr. Blinken buy this? After the communists’ betrayal of their treaty with Britain in respect of Hong Kong, who could possibly believe a Chinese envoy?Wouldn’t you know it, though, the Europeans appear to be taking the bait. “China’s desire for a diplomatic reset with Europe,” the FT says, “appears to be yielding significant results.” One by one, Europe’s top leaders are making pilgrimages to Beijing, starting with Germany’s Scholz and the president of the European Council in November. Due to follow are President Macron, and even, sadly, the new Italian premier, Giorgia Meloni.In kowtowing to Mr. Xi, these Europeans are “voicing opposition to ‘decoupling’ from China,” the FT reports, a win for Beijing’s “strategy to sow division between European powers and the US.” This lack of spine has even appalled the EU foreign service, which is urging “EU capitals to toughen their attitude towards China,” the FT says. Such firmness toward Beijing is waxing in Holland, Lithuania, and, our Benny Avni reports, among the Czechs.This is the context in which Mr. Xi is now wooing Mr. Blinken. Is the Free Chinese Republic on Taiwan next? That’s the question after the appointment of the Chinese Communist Party’s chief political strategist, Wang Huning, to craft a new policy approach toward Taiwan. Nikkei Asia reports Mr. Wang is being tasked with revising the “one country, two systems” policy — the farce that the “reunification” would preserve Taiwan’s democracy.“Two systems” is said to be a non-starter after Hong Kong. Incredibly, though, there are those who harbor hope that Beijing’s new policy will “prioritize communication and cooperation over aggression and exclusion,” the Taiwan News reports. We don’t know about Mr. Blinken, but the doughty Free Chinese surely know a wolf when one knocks at their door — no matter how amicably he may be disguised as a panda.

Blinken Tests Panda Diplomacy

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