China Backs Democratic Resistance to President Trump.
Democratic governors are forming regional blocs to resist President Donald Trump’s efforts to get the American economy moving and put people back to work. They have picked up a powerful ally, one that should give the public cause for alarm. On April 19, the editor-in-chief of the Global Times, a major media outlet of the Chinese Communist Party, wrote an op-ed in which he stated “My advice is to focus China-US anti-epidemic cooperation with US states, while giving the federal government a cold shoulder.” Like the Democrats, Hu Xijin attacked Trump’s policies and proclaimed, “China needs to take necessary actions and express its strong dissatisfaction.” The graphic accompanying Hu’s column showed an American fist slamming down in a demand for action being held in check by a Chinese hand held up signaling stop.
There is every reason for Beijing to want America’s economic downturn and political turmoil to continue as long as possible while it recovers from the effects of the pandemic. The regime has been pushing hard to reopen the economy and declare that its position as the center of worldwide manufacturing has not been weakened by the crisis. Indeed, an essay in the state-run China Daily proclaimed on April 14, “Global Reliance on China Won’t Reduce.” It asserted, “Even if more regionalized and diversified supply chains would reduce risks, China retains considerable competitive advantages in many areas, such as electronics and machinery and equipment manufacturing.” New “investments will help China build on recent progress in even more high-tech sectors, including big data, artificial intelligence, the internet of things, and the industrial internet. Which in turn will deepen China’s integration into the global technological supply chain.” On March 24, it was declared that Dongfeng Honda, the largest industrial enterprise in Wuhan, which runs three factories producing over 3,000 cars per day, was up and running. Beijing also claimed that most industry outside the Wuhan area was already back in operation.
Wait are you telling me that China wants Biden to be president? Perhaps we need a special counsel to determine if this virus is China colluding with the Biden campaign to interfere in our elections.
WELL, THAT’S A TAKE: Biden says he isn’t soft on China, Trump is.
A Biden-aligned super PAC, American Bridge, is running a $15 million ad campaign of its own hitting Trump on China. “Everyone knew they lied about the virus,” the narrator said against the backdrop of eerie music. “China … President Trump gave China his trust.” Last week, the Democratic National Committee’s sixth installment of its “In Focus: Trump’s Disastrous Coronavirus Response” was titled “Trump rolled over for China.” The DNC memo asserted, “Trump’s failure to stand up to China is one of his biggest vulnerabilities.”
The Trump-approved America First Action Super PAC is already running an ad going after four decades of Biden’s China policy. But the main focus is on China and the coronavirus.
“Joe Biden attacked Trump after the China travel ban,” said the spot’s narrator, followed by audio of the ex-vice president calling it “xenophobia and fear-mongering.” The ad continued, “For forty years, Joe Biden has been wrong about China.” America First then cuts to a speech in which Biden declared, “I believed in 1979, and I believe now, that a rising China is a positive development.”
Trump, by contrast, has inveighed against this position for decades before entering politics. “I ran on China and other countries, the way they were ripping us off,” Trump recalled during Sunday’s White House press briefing. “They were ripping off our country. And China understood that.” But his desire to strike a trade deal with China, as well as secure the regime’s cooperation in getting needed medical supplies to the United States, has led him to equivocate publicly on Xi.
“The president can be harsh with foreign governments, but he also knows how to sweet-talk foreign leaders to get what he wants,” said a Republican strategist who requested anonymity to speak candidly. “Everyone knows that.”
This makes Biden look sillier and more full of it than usual — a high bar.
h/t SH