Reconstructing the Biden-Xi Call

President Biden informed China’s Xi Jinping of the US position on several issues in their call Tuesday, the White House said; Xi’s response was essentially, “F-U.” Xi didn’t say quite that, but close enough. Biden emphasized the importance of “peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait” and “the rule of law and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea,” the White House reported. And he raised “concerns” over climate change, China’s “support for Russia’s defense industrial base” and its “unfair trade policies,” etc., etc.

Yet Xi, per Beijing’s readout afterward, “stressed” that Taiwan is a “red line that must not be crossed.” “In the face” of efforts to encourage Taiwan independence, he threatened, “China is not going to sit on its hands.”

Xi accused Washington of adopting “a string of measures to suppress China’s trade and technology development” and “creating risks” by sanctioning “Chinese entities.” If Washington persists, he lectured, “China is not going to sit back and watch.” Indeed, the two nations could “slide into conflict.”

The Chinese account paints Biden as defensive, saying he reiterated the US objective “not to change China’s system” and that Washington doesn’t support “Taiwan independence” but “follows the one-China policy.”

Which side’s “readout” is more accurate? Consider their respective records of action.

China provokes Taiwan incessantly, sends fentanyl ingredients to Mexico and spy balloons over America, aids Russia in its Ukraine war, claims the whole South China Sea . . .

Biden, meanwhile, has taken not one meaningful public step that’s led China to stand down: The White House didn’t even let Americans know about the spy balloon until regular citizens spotted it.

Maybe Beijing has damning dirt on the Biden family’s multimillion-dollar “business” dealings in China, or perhaps the president plays rabbit simply because he always fears overseas “escalation.”

Words or action, the bottom line remains: Xi bullies, and Biden just blathers.