Once upon a time, Joe Biden was billed as some great foreign policy wonk. The reality is that international relations across the board have crumbled, the United States lost Afghanistan in a horrible and humiliating way, and now Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in China, trying to salvage diplomatic relations from a position of weakness.

Remember how China floated a spy balloon across the United States, and initially the Biden administration tried to ignore the whole thing until the public noticed, and then the balloon was shot down once it was finished spying, and then the administration started shooting down anything that floated as overkill? And then we learned that the administration knew about the balloon from the day it launched. Well, Biden made an attempt to smooth the whole spy balloon incident over before Blinken went to China.

“I don’t think the leadership knew where it was, and knew what was in it, and knew what was going on,” Biden told reporters Saturday as he headed to Philadelphia for his first campaign rally of the 2024 election. “I think it was more embarrassing than it was intentional.”

The conciliatory comments came as Secretary of State Antony Blinken continued a two-day visit to Beijing, his first diplomatic trip there since he called off a planned trip as the balloon made its uncontested three-day journey across US airspace.”

“I’m hoping that over the next several months I’ll be meeting with Xi again, and talking about legitimate differences we have but also how … to get along,” Biden added.”

Oh please. China got caught, and the Biden administration chickened out on shooting down that balloon. In fact, the Biden administration has a long record of meekly covering for Chinese aggression, or outright ignoring uncomfortable truths – like the fact that the Times of London recently published an exposé that offered up the best confirmation possible that COVID-19 was a lab creation. Didn’t hear anything about that from the Biden administration, did we? The most recent lie from the administration dealt with the reality that China has been spying on the United States from Cuba. When asked about it, John Kirby outright lied, and then the administration was forced to admit that it was true.

The reality is that China is being allowed to run roughshod over the interests of the United States, and the Biden administration is okay with that, because they apparently wish to “improve” relations by ignoring all of China’s aggressive actions. All speculation as to why should be on the table.

So Antony Blinken went to China to kiss ass and attempt to make Joe Biden not look like a complete pushover.

Today, I met with People’s Republic of China State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Beijing and discussed how we can responsibly manage the relationship between our two countries through open channels of communication. pic.twitter.com/dPkd0aWQ5J

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) June 18, 2023

It’s not looking good.

On Sunday, Blinken held talks lasting more than seven-and-a-half hours – an hour more than expected – with Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang. The US state department called the talks – which were held at an ornate state villa, and included a banquet dinner – “candid, substantive and constructive” although they did not appear to make concrete progress on disputes that include Taiwan, trade, human rights and fentanyl.”

Both expressed a desire to stabilise ties despite what one US official called their “profound” differences, and agreed that Qin would visit Washington to continue the conversation, though no date was announced.”

However, behind closed doors, Qin told Blinken that relations between the US and China “are at the lowest point since the establishment of diplomatic relations”, according to state-run broadcaster CCTV.”

The talks continued on Monday, with the biggest question on the table being if Xi Jinping himself with meet with Blinken.

Blinken and China’s top diplomatic counterpart Wang Yi began talks Monday morning, posing for photos at Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guesthouse before heading into closed door discussions.”

Monday is expected to be a key test for how far the two powers can go to stabilize their fractured lines of communication, which have broken down over the past year, especially when it comes to high-level military exchanges – raising concerns in Washington that a mistake or accident could quickly spin into conflict.”

Inflamed tensions formed the backdrop to the first day of Blinken’s visit Sunday, with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang saying during his meeting with the United States’ envoy that the China-US relationship was at the “lowest point” since diplomatic ties were re-established in 1979, according to Beijing.”

Whether Blinken also meets with Xi will be a key indicator of China’s interest in taking steps to rebuild that rapport.”

In the lead-up to the meeting, Beijing has sought to blame Washington for deteriorating ties and warned it against “interfering in China’s internal affairs.”

When China says that the United States is “interfering” in their “internal affairs,” they mean that we are opposing their intent to conquer Taiwan, either by blockading them into submission, or going for an invasion. There is bipartisan support for Taiwan’s continued independence, from Nancy Pelosi visiting Taiwan last August, to an approved arms sale last September, to Joe Biden’s own support for Taiwan. Biden was promptly undermined by his own administration on Taiwan, so we really have no honest idea of what a Biden administration would do in the event of an actual invasion of Taiwan – and if we were projecting the strength that the United States should, with a president who had an actual plan, then this wouldn’t be such a pressing issue.

We know that Blinken has no spine and is not able to stand up to China on behalf of American interests. The question then becomes, does anyone in the Biden administration have a spine when it comes to China? Biden’s has been removed, either by his staff or by his family’s LLC accounts. Blinken can use all the noncommittal diplo-speak he’s got, but it’s pretty clear that China has the upper hand on the Biden administration at this moment.

UPDATE:
Ah yes, ass-kissing and cowardice at its finest.

SEC. BLINKEN: "We do not support Taiwan independence.”

pic.twitter.com/7RTb2rwJbA

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) June 19, 2023

Will anyone in the administration bother telling Joe Biden?

Featured image: Secretary of State Antony Blinken, official State Department photo by Ronny Przysucha, cropped, public domain