JOE A COWER BROKER
GOP: Biden lets Xi take diplo lead
Chinese President Xi Jinping appears to be positioning himself to replace President Biden as the world’s power broker — setting up meetings with both Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelesnky on the heels of China’s success in brokering a diplomatic deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
And some Republicans believe the Xi power play points to “America’s decline” under Biden.
“The US was once the indispensable nation but [Biden’s] often incompetent management of [international] affairs is undoing that,” Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) wrote in a recent tweet, lamenting the outsized role in global affairs the Communist power has been taking on since Biden took office.
“Biden let Communist China become the Middle East’s new power broker. This is what American decline under Biden looks like,” Hagerty added.
Fresh off its wheeling and dealing in the Middle East, Xi told Chinese lawmakers Monday the Asian nation should “actively participate in the reform and construction of the global governance system” and promote “global security initiatives.”
That will add “positive energy to world peace and development,” he claimed.
And in a blend of statecraft and blunt force, Xi spoke of turning the People’s Liberation Army into a “great wall of steel.”
“We should comprehensively promote the modernization of national defense and military construction, and build the People’s Army into a great wall of steel that effectively safeguards national sovereignty, security and development interests,” the Chinese leader said.
Xi’s emphasis on expansion comes as The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that he plans to visit Russia as soon as next week to meet with his counterpart Putin as Russia continues its more than yearlong invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
His trip to Moscow follows US intelligence concerns that Beijing is considering providing lethal arms to Russia.
The report said Xi also intends to meet with Ukrainian President Zelensky, possibly after his visit to Moscow, and reflects China’s objective to play a peacemaking role.
Iran and Saudi Arabia announced last Friday that they had reached an agreement, negotiated during four days of secret talks in Beijing, to re-establish diplomatic relations and reopen embassies.
Xi, 69, who has sidelined potential rivals to cement his dominance in the Communist Party, was named to a third five-year term as China’s president last week, which puts him on track to remain in power for the rest of his life.
In the US, there’s growing anxiety over China’s global ambition and criticism Biden is taking too lenient a position with Beijing.
“The Obama admin let Russia back into the Middle East after a 40-year absence,” Hagerty said. “Now the Biden admin has let Communist China into the Gulf. This is strategic failure.”