China wrongly blamed the United States for the stymied talks, saying Washington had created an “imaginary enemy” and confrontational tone. Of course, the United States should confront an enemy of democracy such as China, which aggressively promotes its totalitarian system and influence globally. Not doing so would be a dereliction of duty to protect the American people from an expansionist dictatorship.
Faced with an embarrassing breakdown in talks, American officials, speaking anonymously to reporters, hastened to add that behind closed doors the dialogue was more cordial. They also sought to give the impression of American aloofness. “I think it'd be wrong to characterize the United States as somehow seeking or soliciting China’s cooperation,” one told reporters, in reference to issues such as North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, and climate change.
At the talks, Wang demanded the removal of Washington’s unilateral tariffs and sanctions, not acknowledging that the tariffs are largely justified, on a legal level, by economic damages suffered by the United States due to China’s actions, including the theft of up to $600 billion annually in intellectual property theft. Wang said, “When it comes to respecting international rules, it is the United States that must think again.” His Foreign Ministry signaled there might be preconditions for cooperation in the future.
China has irresponsibly sought to use talks over climate change to obtain unrelated concessions, thereby engaging in what I would call ‘climate brinkmanship.’ The world’s biggest polluter uses its emissions to threaten the United States and allies into concessions on issues ranging from human rights to trade.
Blinken’s climate representative, John Kerry, has rightly sought to delink climate negotiations from other issues. But as China clearly doesn’t care about the environment to the requisite degree, taxes on its pollution should be imposed by the United States in a manner similar to the European approach. Europe has increased trade barriers to cheap Chinese imports that take advantage of miserably low environmental regulations. This also helps avoid “carbon leakage,” in which U.S. and European industries flee strong environmental regulations to produce more cheaply in China.
When Sherman returned to Washington, one can’t imagine how she might have reported back to President Biden with anything more optimistic than a shrug of resignation. It could have been a good deal worse. Such is likely the future limit of diplomatic achievement from talks with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), until we augment the diplomat’s velvet glove with something a bit sturdier.
After the meeting, Reuters described Washington-Beijing relations as “at a standstill.” Reuters noted that “the two sides appeared to stop short of actually negotiating anything, sticking instead to lists of established demands.”
The repeated failure of American diplomats to obtain moderation from China will force our differences with the country into economic sanctions, the rallying of allies, and the military arena. Already, the United States is increasing military training in the region, and considering U.S. interdiction of oil shipments from Iran to China.
China’s oil supply is a major vulnerability as the country does not have easily extractable reserves. When the United States blocked oil shipments to Japan during World War II, however, Japan’s 1942 attack on Pearl Harbor was the result.
U.S.-China relations are thus increasingly dangerous and unpredictable, not least due to technological advances like hypersonic missiles and drone swarms.
Biden is rightly seeking regional stabilization in Asia by strengthening an emerging multilateral alliance among the United States, Japan, India, and Australia, called the Quad, as well as encouraging key European allies like Britain and France, to demonstrate commitment by sending warships.
The President is seeking to host the leaders of the Quad in multilateral talks this year. Let’s hope they proceed more smoothly and satisfactorily than Ms. Sherman’s attempts in Tianjin. And, let’s hope that Britain and France send representatives as well.