At present, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is facing a range of domestic challenges from a looming real estate to soaring unemployment rates. Mr. Xi is also conducting a purge at the top levels of the Chinese military due to corruption and internal power struggles.
Internationally, the CCP’s expansionist policies are raising alarm among Western countries. The Chinese regime is seeking to export its authoritarian ideology and to control critical infrastructure around the world via its Belt and Road Initiative. China is increasingly threatening regional security in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, and it has forged nefarious alliances with North Korea, Iran, and Russia.
That’s led to a wave of Western countries introducing restrictions around high-tech and semiconductor exports to China.
Last year, the Pentagon’s National Defense Strategy report had already identified China as the United States’ greatest strategic competitor. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has pointed out that China is the only adversary with both the intent and the growing power to change the international order.
Seeking Help From the US Historically
The CCP has turned to the United States multiple times in its history. Before the Communist Revolution in China, the CCP was a weak insurgent power that tried to praise the United States and show favor to the United States to present the illusion that the CCP represented the people and democracy. This led to the United States giving up its assistance to the government of the Chinese Republic at the time.During the Korean War in the 1950s, the CCP knew the strength of American military power, and the United States’ security agreements with neighboring countries such as South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Australia were viewed as a threat to China. So the CCP dared not underestimate the United States. However, after the failed planned economy and the violent Cultural Revolution, China’s economy was essentially nonexistent, and the relationship with the Soviet Union was strained. Chinese dictator Mao Zedong at the time felt that he urgently needed external relief from the crisis.
In July 1971, the United States sent Henry Kissinger to Beijing to side with China against the Soviet Union, which was the communist superpower at the time. Diplomatic contacts between the two countries began. The United States sought diplomatic relations with the CCP based on the belief that through trade and investment, China would be integrated into the global economy and gradually become a part of the free world. This was in line with the values and interests of the United States.
The thawed U.S.–China relations were a great relief to the Chinese dictator, and it helped China to resolve its domestic crisis.
In the early 1980s, the United States sold advanced radar, helicopters, electronic surveillance devices, and computers with advanced military software to China, which significantly upgraded the Chinese military.
The turning point came on June 4, 1989, when the CCP brutally suppressed pro-democracy protests in what became the Tiananmen Square Massacre. The world was shocked by the CCP’s atrocities, which led to a number of sanctions against China by the United States. High-level exchanges between China and the United States came to an abrupt end, with the international community joining in the sanctions against China. The Chinese regime once again fell into crisis.
After 1989, the United States took a critical stance against China on regional security and human rights issues. As the Soviet Union collapsed along with communism in Eastern Europe, the United States’ strategic alliance with China against the Soviet Union no longer existed.
However, shortly after 1989, President George H.W. Bush gradually restored the relationship with China. That’s regarded as a major mistake in U.S. foreign policy since it objectively enabled the CCP. In a way, this strengthened the Chinese regime to remain in power to this day.
Xi Seeking ‘Life Support’ in Time of Crisis
“The eventual demise of the CCP and Xi Jinping is inevitable,“ independent Chinese writer and contributor Zhuge Mingyang said. ”The United States and the Western world are highly wary of the CCP today, and they will not allow the CCP to do whatever it wants to do politically, economically, and militarily.”Recently, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called China, Russia, and Iran a “new axis of evil” that the United States must deal with. He cited the Russia–Ukraine War and the Israel–Hamas War as backgrounds of struggle between this new axis of evil and the United States and its allies.
During the recently concluded summit for the Belt and Road Initiative, Mr. Xi told Russian President Vladimir Putin that China and Russia should work together to “safeguard peace and justice in the world.” During his previous visit to Russia, he also told Mr. Putin that they should work together to push forward “changes not seen in 100 years.”
Mr. Putin touted Mr. Xi as “one of the world’s most recognized leaders.”
Since the beginning of the Russia–Ukraine War, China has been supplying Russia with semiconductors, drones, optical sights, and key defense technology. Russia publicly acknowledged that most of the drones it uses came from China.
“In the context of the current global affair, I am afraid that it is unrealistic for Xi to expect the United States to support him and to continue to give the CCP a lifeline, but Xi will not go to Biden empty-handed,” Mr. Zhuge said. “He should have two cards in his hand: the Russia–Ukraine War and the Israel–Hamas War. He is likely to use this to negotiate with the United States for the CCP to give up its support for Russia and Hamas in exchange for the United States giving up its export restriction on high-tech products to China.
“If Xi Jinping’s trip goes as he wishes, he will have established his authority within the CCP, not only renewing the CCP’s lifeline but also greatly easing his own crisis.
“However, in the face of unexpected events in China, such as the death of former Chinese premier Li Keqiang, will the ‘Biden–Xi meeting’ materialize? And even if it does, will the United States actually buy his story? All these factors are beyond Xi’s control.”
