Biden should demand Europe challenge Xi-Putin love affair
Washington Examiner
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Commencing a state visit to Russia on Monday, President Xi Jinping of China underlined his confidence that he can retain his European political and economic cake while covering for Moscow, even as it eats Europe’s democratic sovereignty, too.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said the two leaders would “jointly draw up a new blueprint for the future development of relations between the two countries and promote the deepening of mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Russia in various fields.”
BIDEN ISN’T EVEN TRYING TO SECURE THE BORDER
Nice. Just not for the democratic world.
It’s well past time that President Joe Biden call out European Union leaders for their tolerance of this absurdity. As Xi and Putin gang up to smash Europe’s peace and global democratic security, EU leaders continue to make China policy only through the prism of trade. Measured by his actions, Xi has situated Chinese foreign policy firmly in Russia’s favor.
He has boosted exports of Russian energy, providing crucial foreign capital to buffer Putin against Western sanctions. He has obstructed efforts to censure Russia at the United Nations and other forums. Via his paper-thin peace proposal for the Ukraine war, he has also made it clear that he is only pretending to be interested in real and worthwhile diplomacy.
As Putin wages the most destructive war in Europe since 1945, it is absurd for Western European governments to treat Xi as merely an awkward friend. Xi’s political cover for Putin’s war and broader support for Russian strategic interests have made him an enemy of territorial inviolability and the right of European peoples to pursue their own destinies.
Article 1, Section 1 of the European Constitution declares: “Inviolable and inalienable human rights form the basis of every human community; respecting, protecting, ensuring, and actively promoting them shall be the duty of all federal authorities.”
Are European nations fulfilling this duty as Putin lobs missiles into Ukrainian cities? Are they living up to this core constitutional undertaking as Putin forcibly transports Ukrainian children to Russia? What are they doing about Putin’s attempt to subjugate Ukrainian democratic sovereignty to a new Russian imperium?
By giving Putin economic and political cover for a war on the EU’s very identity, Xi has made himself a party to it. Indeed, a top Chinese official openly endorsed Putin’s war effort. Visiting Moscow last September, Li Zhanshu was recorded telling his hosts, “On the Ukrainian issue, we see how [Western nations] have put Russia in an impossible situation. And in this case, Russia made an important choice and responded firmly.” Li was then chairman of the Politburo Standing Committee, a top Communist Party official.
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Unfortunately, Biden enables European fecklessness by treating EU nations gently and not forcing them to spend rather more on continental defense and rather less on social welfare programs. We’ll believe German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Zeitenwende defense boosts and French President Macron’s defense spending hikes when we see them. Biden’s provision of Navy destroyers and F-22 fighter squadrons to Europe’s defense is stretching the U.S. military in the Indo-Pacific, which is bad policy when the CIA believes Xi may invade Taiwan by 2027.
Biden must tell Europe to stand up for its own itemized constitutional values. The time has come to stand up to China and end its trade-for-appeasement strategy. If not, the United States should no longer be expected to defend Europe with scant European help. Europeans must make it clear to Xi that his camouflage of diplomatic reasonableness isn’t fooling anyone and they will make him pay if he continues to subvert them by backing Putin’s war of choice.