As he comes under fire for his weak response to China’s brazen spying on U.S. military assets, President Biden is doubling down.
Incredibly, Biden said America’s ties with China have not been “weakened” by China sending a spy balloon to snoop on missile sites.
China ties unaffected, Biden says
The Chinese spy balloon was discovered in the skies of Montana, where U.S. missile sites are kept, but was not shot down until it days later when it was off the coast of South Carolina.
Biden said he ordered the balloon to be shot down right away but then decided to wait after being advised that it wasn’t safe.
Doubling down Monday, Biden said he did “the right thing” and that China has learned a lesson, although he said relations with China haven’t been affected in any way.
“We did the right thing and it’s not a question of weakening or strengthening – it’s reality,” he insisted.
Biden complimented for delay
Biden’s allies in the Democratic party and the media have complimented his flat-footed response, weak and fumbling in the eyes of many, as some kind of geopolitical masterstroke.
“The Biden administration says it will get important new data on Chinese capabilities by studying the balloon, and showed off the military’s own prowess with the shootdown and expected recovery of the object’s payload,” Bloomberg news wrote.
The talking points have clearly made the rounds, with Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer (NY) claiming Biden, by allowing the balloon to traverse a huge swath of the country, kept Americans safe somehow.
“Now we can collect the equipment and analyze the technology used by the CCP,” he tweeted.
Doubling down on weakness
Biden’s conciliatory tone comes as he aims to cool tensions with China, which have been running high over issues like Taiwan. Observers have noted that Biden’s chief diplomat, Antony Blinken, rescheduled a meeting in China but didn’t cancel it after the balloon incident.
“He chose to postpone, which indicates willingness on the US end to maintain open channels of communication,” Bonny Lin, a former China adviser to the Defense Department who is now senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said.
While the incident has alarmed many Americans, Senator Chris Murphy (CT) mocked “bed wetters” who were concerned by China’s spying.
Bear in mind, these are the same people who have spent years accusing Republicans of supporting Russia. Is it fair now to ask whether Democrats are colluding with China?