Just after the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped his first meetings while on his visit to Beijing, China, one foreign policy expert warned that America should not be discussing any kind of cooperation.
"Remember, we're talking about a totalitarian state in China where the Chinese military, which operated this spy balloon, is not a state military," Gatestone Institute senior fellow Gordon Chang said on "Mornings with Maria" Monday. "It reports to Xi Jinping directly."
Blinken met with Jinping and other Chinese state officials on Monday where he repeatedly raised the need for establishing military-to-military communications, the secretary claimed in a press briefing.
But Blinken clarified that China allegedly did not agree to move forward with that initiative.
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"President Biden asked me to travel to Beijing because he believes that the United States and China have an obligation and responsibility to manage our relationship. The United States is committed to doing that," Blinken told Jinping via interpreter. "It’s in the interest of the United States, in the interests of China, and in the interest of the world."
Chang argued that Jinping will likely take an unconventional route toward military war and global conflict.
"We already have war at one end of the Eurasian landmass. If we have war at the other end, as well as North Africa, and China and Russia, by the way, are destabilizing North Africa, creating these insurgencies that look like war," the senior fellow explained.
"Then we'll have war in many different parts of the world at the same time. That looks like World War III," he continued.
When pressed by reporters ahead of Blinken’s trip, President Biden downplayed national security threats posed by China.
"I think one of the things that that balloon caused was not so much that it got shot down, but I don't think the leadership knew where it was and knew what was in it and knew what was going on. I think it was more embarrassing than it was intentional," Biden said on Saturday. "And so, 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 there's areas we can get along."
Chang called Biden’s comments "communist party talking points."
"The American people did not elect President Biden to support China over American interests," the policy expert said. "This is just wrong on every level, and I think the American people have had enough of this."
Jinping is also currently battling a distressing economic situation, according to Chang, suggesting war is the Chinese president’s "only way" to rally his people.
"I'm afraid that President Biden's moves to prevent war, with the best of intentions, are actually accelerating it because he is not saying to the Chinese what they need to hear, which is that the United States will defend itself, its allies and partners, and we will impose unacceptable costs on Chinese aggression," Chang said.
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Blinken added in Monday’s press conference that he stressed the notion that "competition does not veer into conflict." But Chang countered that Xi Jinping sees "only one way out of this."
"He's going to want to take territory and next neighbors," Chang said. "And unfortunately, we are not understanding the way Xi Jinping approaches the world or the domestic incentives under which he is working."
