INTERNACIONAL
Biden’s China strategy ‘detrimental’ as ‘international system is breaking down,’ experts say
The Biden administration’s policy of trying to play friendly with China has yielded few material gains, and the U.S. has failed to capitalize upon what little concessions it has gotten, experts told Fox News Digital.
«The one thing that we’ve got is time,» Gordon Chang, Gatestone Institute senior fellow and China expert, explained. «The United States is not ready to defend itself and its allies and partners, and by appeasing China we have bought a little bit of time.
«Biden has bought time, and the Pentagon has done nothing. It hasn’t done as much as it’s needed to do, so we have wasted time. … Apart from that, I don’t think we’ve gotten very much.
«Clearly, the United States is no longer deterring China as we once did, so this is the time to change a policy that has worked but is no longer sufficient in today’s setting.»
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President Biden meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G-20 leaders’ summit in Bali, Indonesia, Nov. 14, 2022. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo)
President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2022 held their first face-to-face meeting since Biden took office while attending the G-20 summit in Indonesia. Last year, Xi visited the U.S. for the first time since 2018 and met with Biden in San Francisco on the sidelines of the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference.
Xi and Biden agreed to military-to-military communications and aggressively tackle the manufacture and distribution of fentanyl, which largely originates in China and Mexico. Nearly all «precursor chemicals» needed to produce fentanyl originate in China, according to The Associated Press.
Last week, Biden National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos about the administration’s progress with China.
«The United States is competing with China across multiple dimensions, and we make no bones about that. But we are not looking for confrontation or conflict. And we are seeking to manage that competition responsibly, intensifying diplomacy to reduce the risk of miscalculation,» Sullivan said.
Sullivan also highlighted the recent meeting between the two leaders and noted the resumption of military-to-military communications, claiming the move was «good for our relationship but also for regional and global stability. It will help reduce the risk of unintended conflict.»
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan addresses the assembly at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos Jan. 16, 2024. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)
Yet critics like Chang harbor major criticism of the Biden administration for not taking action in response to the many deaths from COVID-19 and fentanyl, both originating in China. Over 1.1 million Americans died from the pandemic, according to numbers published in April 2023, and over 73,000 Americans died from fentanyl overdoses in the U.S. in 2022.
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«To me, it’s incomprehensible that we would allow this, but we have allowed the killing of Americans in great numbers,» Chang said.
Critics and analysts had also expected stronger action from Biden following a tumultuous year for China-U.S. relations. The U.S. caught China sending spy crafts into sovereign American airspace, and China increased its incursions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ).
In this photo provided by Chad Fish, a large balloon drifts above the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of South Carolina, with a fighter jet and its contrail seen below it, Feb. 4, 2023. (Chad Fish via AP)
The Biden administration instead has spent time ramping up military drills with regional allies and strengthening ties with partners like Australia, Singapore, South Korea and Japan.
Japan this week agreed to buy 400 U.S.-made long-range Tomahawk missiles, just one day after holding a massive naval drill with both the U.S. and South Korea in a show of force against North Korea. But China will have paid attention to such a demonstration.
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Matt McInnis, senior fellow for the Institute for the Study of War’s China program, told Fox News Digital he would hesitate to label the Biden administration’s total approach to China as one of appeasement, but he argued that the White House does show «too much concern about provoking China.»
«The Biden administration has continued many of the policies of the Trump administration on China and is actually taking some strong steps in many areas with China, but I do think that inherent fear of provocation is setting us up — especially this year — for some concessions that are going to be detrimental.»
The Taiwanese navy launches a U.S.-made standard missile from a frigate during the annual Han Kuang Drill on the sea near the Suao navy harbor in Yilan county July 26, 2022. (Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images)
In addition to the spy balloon incident and a lack of significant U.S. response, the U.S. has not managed to convince China to curb North Korea, which continues to make greater and greater shows of force as the hermit kingdom’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un seeks to establish his country as a legitimate world power.
Chang argued that the soft touch with China has allowed the international system to break down as «bad actors now feel they can do what they want.» He cited the escalating tensions last week between Iran and Pakistan as an example.
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Chang criticized the Biden administration’s policy of «strategic ambiguity,» which administration spokespeople have cited in a variety of responses regarding America’s approach to China.
«Strategic ambiguity» sees America oscillating between clear support for the One China Policy, which necessitates opposition to Taiwan’s independence, even as the Pentagon continues to arm Taiwan and prepare it for possible invasion.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Chinese President Xi Jinping pose for a photo with delegates during the closing day of the BRICS Summit at the Sandton Convention Center Aug. 24, 2023, in the Sandton district of Johannesburg, South Africa. (Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images)
Both China and North Korea have provided backdoor support for Russia, with North Korea providing basic munitions in a bid to obtain more advanced weapons from Moscow. China reiterated support for Russia after the failed Wagner mercenary rebellion against the Russian Ministry of Defense over disagreements regarding progress in Ukraine.
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China has also only emboldened Iran, which has continued to push its proxies in the Middle East and fund their attacks against American military assets and allies in the region.
While the Iran-backed Houthis double down on their attacks against international commercial ships in the Red Sea, China looks to fold Iran into the BRICS economic bloc and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
«The more we restrict ourselves, that is going to set new norms that China can exploit and pressure us,» McInnis said. «We end up deterring ourselves and not getting much in return for it.»
JERUSALEM — President-elect Donald Trump’s victory Wednesday morning will likely lead to a new U.S. Middle East policy that will have a dramatic effect on Israel’s war against Iran-backed terrorist movements Hamas and Hezbollah, according to experts.
Fox News Digital reached out to leading U.S. and Israeli experts on the Middle East for their insights on the meaning of a second Trump term on the unfolding instability and wars in the region. The Iranian regime has aggressively backed Hamas and Hezbollah in their wars against the Jewish state for more than a year. Tehran has also launched two aerial drone and missile attacks on the Jewish state in 2024.
U.S.-Israel Mideast expert Caroline Glick, who served as an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Fox News Digital, «Trump’s policy of respecting the prerogatives of Israel’s democratically elected government will enable Prime Minister Netanyahu and his ministers to pursue their strategy of victory over Iran and its proxies to its successful conclusion. Israel does not seek direct U.S. involvement in the war. Rather, it hopes that the U.S. will provide it with diplomatic and other support to enable it to achieve victory against foes common to the U.S. and Israel.»
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-President Trump are shown during the signing ceremony of the Abraham Accords at the White House on Sept. 15, 2020. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Glick added, «The Trump doctrine of minimizing U.S. involvement in the Middle East is predicated on supporting America’s allies, first and foremost Israel, in their bid to defeat their enemies, who are also America’s enemies. Trump support for an Israeli victory will enable the president to preside over a post-war period of calm and unprecedented peace, which is only possible after an Israeli victory.»
The Biden administration has faced criticism for its crackdown on Israel’s prosecution of the war against Hamas after the jihadi movement slaughtered nearly 1,200 people on Oct. 7, 2023, including more than 40 Americans. Biden reportedly withheld vital armaments at one point while Israel engaged in its existential war.
Glick has been a sharp critic of the Biden-Harris administration and said that «Iran continues to pursue nuclear weapons and to wage a seven-front war against Israel. The U.S. has protected Hamas’s regime in Gaza and Hezbollah’s control over Lebanon.»
Palestinian terrorists of the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, take part in a military parade to mark the anniversary of the 2014 war with Israel on July 19, 2023, in Gaza. (MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images)
Retired Israeli Brig. Gen. Amir Avivi, founder of the Israel Defense and Security Forum, told Fox News Digital that «President Trump’s win presents a huge opportunity for the Middle East to dismantle the Shiite axis [the Islamic Republic of Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon] and restore security to the Middle East by signing peace agreements and creating a Western-Israel-Sunni alliance that will extend all the way to Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and Oman.»
He added that peace and prosperity in the Middle East «requires dealing with the dangers of a nuclear Iran. Israel’s expectation is to see the U.S. leading a coalition that will deal militarily with the nuclear sites of Iran and possibly even bring down the regime and dismantle the Shiite axis that is endangering all the moderate states in the Middle East.»
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Members of the Basij paramilitary force are shown during a rally commemorating International Quds Day in downtown Tehran, Iran, on April 14, 2023. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Avivi said Israel has set the stage by destroying Hamas and is on the verge of destroying Hezbollah.
David Wurmser, a former senior adviser for nonproliferation and Middle East strategy for former Vice President Dick Cheney, told Fox News Digital, «The election of Trump will have a significant impact on Middle East policy. Iran and its proxies will feel profoundly threatened, but they will not give up. They cannot; it is a matter of regime survival for Iran.»
«Any Israeli hope harbored by some in Israel that now the United States will pick up the ball and join Israel in fighting this war, especially Iran itself, is a false hope,» Wurmser said. «Trump will let Israel do what it needs to do and protect it without reservation or restraint to do that, but it will not do it for Israel.»
«Another area in which there will be considerable American input will be the formation of the Middle East peace structure that expands the Abraham Accords without pressing the Saudi or others to deal with the Palestinian issue,» he said.
An IDF tank rolls through the Netzarim Corridor in Gaza. (IDF Spokesman’s Unit)
Trump’s signature first-term Middle East accomplishment was the Abraham Accords that established diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan. Mideast experts said that had Trump not lost to Biden in the 2020 election, he could have secured a grand diplomatic recognition agreement between Saudi Arabia and the Jewish state.
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According to Wurmser, «The incoming administration will represent a paradigm shift where a strong Israel and a weak, besieged and retreating Iran will advance a regional alliance that challenges Iran and China and abandons the two-state Palestinian obsession of the Washington establishment as the guiding principle of policy.»
The Islamist government of Turkey’s strongman, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, will also likely meet resistance from Trump. Erdoğan, who supports the U.S.-designated terrorist entity Hamas, in July threatened to invade Israel to protect Palestinians. Erdoğan also provides material support for Hamas terrorists who live in Turkey.
An aircraft from the Israeli Air Force (IDF)
Efrat Aviv, a professor in the Department of General History at Bar-Ilan University in Israel and a leading expert on Turkey, told Fox News Digital that «Trump’s pro-Israel stance clashes with Erdoğan’s support for Hamas, which Turkey sees as freedom fighters. Turkey’s alleged involvement in facilitating Hamas’s activities, including granting them passports and aiding money laundering, complicates relations further.»
«Turkey found relief in Trump’s presidency, in contrast to Biden, who had criticized Erdoğan’s democratic backslide, notably excluding Turkey from the 2021 Summit for Democracy,» Aviv added. «Under Trump, American pastor Andrew Brunson was released from Turkish custody. However, despite Trump’s generally favorable stance, tensions persist. Trump imposed sanctions on Turkey five times during his tenure, and key issues, such as U.S. support for Kurdish groups and Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defense system, remain divisive.»
«Whether this marks the beginning of a new chapter or if tensions continue to overshadow their personal friendship remains to be seen,» noted Aviv.
There are skeptics who view Trump as shifting to a policy that will strong-arm Israel into a possible premature end to the war to root out Hamas terrorists from the Gaza Strip and eradicate Hezbollah terrorists and facilities on its northern border.
From left, Bahrain Foreign Affairs Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Trump and United Arab Emirates Foreign Affairs Minister Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan participate in the signing ceremony of the Abraham Accords on Sept. 15, 2020. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
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Joel Rubin, a former deputy assistant secretary of state who served in the Obama administration, told Fox News Digital, «It’s an open question as to how a Trump 2.0 will operate in the Middle East. Unlike Trump 1.0, he has a much more isolationist VP in JD Vance, and he also at the same time told Netanyahu to finish up the war in Gaza. And while he has expressed an interest in a deal with Iran over its nuclear program, he has a history of taking aggressive actions against it, and his communications were targeted by the regime during his campaign, which may fuel distrust and suspicion.»
«But the fundamentals of his wanting to focus on domestic issues are what will likely drive his policy in the early days, while he works to avoid international entanglements,» Rubin added. «My bet is that if the Middle East flares into creating headaches for him, particularly through increasing wars, he will work to stamp them out while not having a very ambitious agenda towards resolving longstanding challenges between Israel and the Palestinians.»
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