Commentary
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is bending over backwards to extend a friendly hand to China. He may slip on the ice. Beijing’s proffered handshake, if it can be called one, looks frigid.
Blinken spoke to China’s foreign minister a few days before his upcoming visit, and the minister was already publicly shaming the United States for deteriorating relations.
Minister Qin Gang reportedly told Blinken on June 14: “The relationship between China and the United States has encountered new difficulties and challenges since the beginning of the year. It’s clear where the responsibility lies.”
Ouch.
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) reversal of blame and numerous affronts to the United States are daunting. Beijing wants to take over Taiwan, with force if necessary. It wants both the East and South China Seas. It seeks naval footholds around the world and is threatening freedom of navigation. The Chinese regime steals as much as $600 billion of intellectual property annually from the United States. It owes trillions of dollars in compensation for the COVID-19 pandemic. The CCP continues to support Russia’s war against Ukraine, especially through energy imports. Over 70,000 Americans overdose and die annually from fentanyl—for which the regime supplies precursors to the Mexican cartels that ship the poison north….