Biden Finds China Is Too Big to Simply Lecture

When then-U.S. President Barack Obama met with President Hu Jintao at the White House in 2011, he raised China’s human rights record while touting the benefits of cooperation with the rising Asia power.

A decade later, Obama-era politicians are taking a similar approach. Joe Biden is also pressing Beijing on human rights, even as he talks about working together on global issues.

While his Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, is in Europe this week to try to coax European leaders into forming a common front on China with the U.S., his climate envoy John Kerry is attending a virtual summit co-hosted by Beijing and talking about collectively tackling climate change.

The U.S. under Biden is again trying to separate out key issues: go hard on trade, tech and human rights, but seek collaboration on climate change and the fight against the pandemic.

It’s a tricky line to walk. The concern in Washington will be that Kerry’s determination to get China on board might complicate a tougher stance on other matters.

Equally it’s not just on cutting carbon emissions where the world still needs China’s engagement.

Take the sanctions announced yesterday by the European Union, U.K. and U.S. over China’s treatment of Uyghurs. It sounded like a big move, but it won’t disrupt business in Xinjiang, a key part not just of the Chinese economy but the global supply chain. Trade and investment with China is too big to destroy – it would be a self-inflicted goal.

So instead we will see this dance of nations attempting to call out China on some things and work with it on others. Obama arguably failed on compartmentalization. Time will tell if Biden fares any better.

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