China shoots down US initiatives for dialogue revival: Politico

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News websites
5 Apr 2023 23:48

China's particular grievance is with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy after the high-ranking official met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.

US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G-20 summit, Indonesia, November 14, 2022 (AFP)

The Chinese leadership has reportedly turned down efforts by the Biden administration to revive dialogue, according to US media. Specifically, the initiative to schedule a visit by State Secretary Antony Blinken to Beijing to attend to the recent balloon conundrum.

Politico reported that it was the Chinese side and not the Biden administration who foiled Blinken's proposal to visit Beijing in February, as well as another initiative for a phone call between the countries’ presidents.

Politico underlined that Chinese obstructive measures have extended to all initiatives of building mutual confidence and restoring hotlines for easy communications.

China's particular grievance is with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy over meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, according to Politico.

China is currently on a course to becoming "militarily superior" to the United States with an unstoppable nuclear program and missiles that could reach the US mainland, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley warned on Wednesday.

Addressing the House Armed Services Committee during a hearing on the 2024 budget of the Department of Defense, the top US General claimed that China aims to become a “global coequal” to the United States and surpass the US army's capabilities by 2049.

Earlier in March, it was reported that Washington considers Beijing to be the only power with fundamental capabilities to produce a new world order, while political shifts in Africa toward China and Russia pose a great risk to US influence in the continent.

"Recent political transitions [in Africa] challenge US military assistance as well as access and influence to help counter advances by malign actors, namely Russia and the PRC [People's Republic of China]," US Assistant Defense Secretary for International Security Affairs Celeste Wallander told the US House Armed Services Committee in congressional testimony.

Back in October 2022, it was reported that regional powers in the Pacific pumped record amounts of money into the region's islands during the COVID-19 pandemic to help them cope with the economic fallout as the competition for influence between China and the West intensifies.

According to an annual study published by the Australian Lowy Institute, "financial assistance allocated to the Pacific Islands increased by 47% in 2020 compared to the previous year."

"There has been a massive increase in loans," said senior researcher Alexander Dayant, stating that the total funding rose to $4.2 billion, a record high roughly equivalent to Fiji's gross domestic product.