The ambassador additional indicated that Beijing had no quick plans to reverse its suspension of U.S.-China cooperation imposed earlier this month in reprisal for Pelosi’s go to.
China’s anger at that go to has come at a value. China’s Foreign Ministry responded to that visit by canceling upcoming military-to-military talks and suspending joint efforts to deal with the local weather disaster and China’s position within the U.S. opioid disaster. Qin stated the accountability for repairing the injury to the bilateral relationship rested solely with Washington.
“China’s leaders in Beijing and spokesmen abroad insist that all friction in U.S.-China relations is the United States’ fault. In the telling of the Chinese Communist Party, all will be well if the United States — and all other countries — ‘reflect on its mistakes,’” stated Robert Daly, director of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States on the Wilson Center. “Beijing’s spokespeople cannot engage in a true discussion; they can only fume … they’re not so much wolf warriors as one-trick ponies.”
Qin’s briefing was a prolonged screed on perceived U.S. transgressions towards Chinese sovereignty about which he expressed private frustration with the failure of Chinese diplomatic interventions to forestall Pelosi’s Taiwan journey.
“I tried every means through every channel possible to prevent [Pelosi’s visit] from happening,” Qin stated. “To resume [normal relations] I want the U.S. to think about its wrong behavior on Taiwan, reflect on what is the true One China policy and refrain from doing anything to escalate tensions.”
Qin’s expression of private resentment on the limits of his diplomatic affect displays his dismay that his finest efforts to derail the Pelosi journey — backed by a Chinese Foreign Ministry insistence that “the U.S. executive branch has the responsibility to stop such a visit” had been unsuccessful. That suggests willful ignorance of the separation of powers between the U.S. government and legislative branches that made such an intervention unattainable.
“There’s a sense of frustration beyond words [in the Chinese embassy] that ‘How could [Pelosi] just not listen to any of the things that we said and how could the Biden administration not stop her?’” stated Yun Sun, China program director on the Stimson Center.
While sparing no ire over the Pelosi go to, Qin largely shrugged at this week’s bipartisan five-person Congressional delegation visit to Taiwan led by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass). Qin restricted his criticism of that journey by calling it “provocative and unhelpful.” But he sounded a extra ominous notice when he prompt that future routine transits of the Taiwan Strait by U.S. naval forces could provoke a response from the People’s Liberation Army.
“We have noted what the U.S. military has said about the U.S. military exercises and navigation [in the Taiwan Strait], but I call on the U.S. to refrain and exercise restraint and not do anything to escalate tensions,” Qin stated. “If there are any moves to violate China’s territorial integrity, China will respond.”
That warning is notable given China’s unilateral declaration in June that it had sovereignty over all the Taiwan Strait.
Kurt Campbell, the National Security Council’s Indo-Pacific coordinator, introduced Friday that U.S. naval items will conduct “freedom of navigation” workouts within the Strait within the coming weeks.
That saber-rattling is going on in tandem with ongoing Chinese preparation for an in-person assembly between President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G-20 assembly in Bali, Indonesia in November.
“The Chinese have already sent a delegation to Indonesia to pave the ground for the summit, so at least on the Chinese calendar, this summit is happening,” Sun stated. “I suspect that under the surface, the working level communication about this leadership summit is ongoing as we speak.”
Qin denied information of such preparations. “On a possible summit between two presidents, I have no idea at the moment and have no information to share with you,” Qin stated.
Congressional delegations to Taiwan are more likely to proceed over the approaching months, prompting extra performative rage from Beijing and its diplomatic representatives. That signifies that the tone of U.S.-Chinese relations is unlikely to sweeten anytime quickly barring a breakthrough throughout the upcoming Biden-Xi in-person talks in Bali in November.
“I don’t anticipate any deviation in this stance from Beijing in the coming months, nor does it seem likely that the Biden administration will do anything that could be construed as a concession by the Chinese, or a sign of weakness in Washington,” stated Aaron Friedberg, former deputy assistant for nationwide safety affairs within the Office of the Vice President and professor of politics and worldwide affairs at Princeton University.
“The administration is probably especially touchy in this regard because it seemed to flinch in the face of Chinese warnings prior to Pelosi’s visit, letting it be known publicly that it opposed the trip and apparently going out of its way to try to reassure Beijing with a presidential phone call,” Friedberg added.
