President Biden, facing an impeachment inquiry examining his involvement in his family’s hugely profitable business, deals with Chinawill face the president Xi Jinping this week in a meeting fraught with political risks.
The president and Mr. XI will engage in “intense diplomacy” and attempt to reestablish military communications between the two nuclear powers, according to the White House.
Mr. Biden is grappling with poor poll numbers, a House corruption investigation and accusations that he was far more lenient. China‘s attacks than was the president Assethis probable opponent in 2024 who has surpassed him in the polls.
THE Biden administration quietly set low expectations for the meeting with Mr. XI as bilateral tensions rise, but Mr. Biden’s Republican opponents in 2024 are not letting his aides lower the bar.
It is said that Mr. Biden must produce tangible results.
“Joe Biden Must hold China responsible for COVID, technology theft and espionage,” said Nikki Haley, Republican presidential candidate and former ambassador to the United Nations. “If Biden leaves his date with Xi Jinping empty-handed, it will not only be embarrassing, but it will be another victory for the CCP’s propaganda.
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Congressional investigators are also monitoring the situation.
Lawmakers in the House and Senate laid out Mr. Biden‘s at least tangential involvement in his family’s lucrative overseas business, including contracts that brought in nearly $5 million from companies linked to the Chinese Communist Party. Critics say that Biden family agreements with China will be among the factors that will weaken the president’s hand over Mr. Xi.
Mr. BidenXi’s visit with Xi is scheduled for Wednesday in the San Francisco area during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
Meanwhile, House investigators are ramping up the probe into the Biden family’s foreign business deals and the role Mr. Biden played while he was vice president and shortly after leaving office.
Companies linked to the Chinese Communist Party featured prominently in the business portfolios of Mr. Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, and the president’s brother, James Biden, and were those that brought in the most money for the family.
Deals with now-defunct Chinese energy company CEFC netted Hunter Biden and James Biden nearly $5 million, according to records obtained by congressional investigators. House investigators linked a $40,000 check that James Biden sent to Mr. Biden in 2017 to a deal with CEFC.
The CEFC is linked to the Chinese Communist Party and its military, the People’s Liberation Army.
Mr. Biden is accused of being soft on China by removing some Trump-era repressive measures against the Chinese Communist Party, such as those from the Justice Department. China Initiative to combat intellectual property theft.
Critics say Mr. Biden is doing little to counter Chinain the Indo-Pacific region or even in its backyard. They note that the Chinese spy balloon crossed the United States earlier this year before being shot down off the coast of South Carolina.
Lawmakers see connection between Mr. Biden’s friendly remarks China policies and the money that Chinese companies deposited into his family’s bank accounts.
“I wonder if President Xi will remind President Biden that Chinese intelligence knows all about the Biden family’s business dealings with Chinese nationals linked to the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Party,” said Senator Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican who investigated the case. The Biden family businesses have been dealing for years, the Washington Times said.
This will be the president’s second meeting in a year with Mr. XIbut Mr. Biden is much more politically vulnerable this time.
Poll numbers for Mr. Biden have hit a new low, causing Democrats to panic about running for president in 2024.
The latest polls show that Mr. Asset defeat Mr. Biden in battleground states likely to decide the White House race.
Mr. AssetThe former president’s campaign used the Biden-Xi meeting to contrast the former president’s tough stance.China policies with what he says is Mr. Biden’s record of backing down in the face of an increasingly threatening Beijing.
“Xi looks at Biden like he’s a big marshmallow” Asset said campaign spokesman Jason Miller. “Weak, gentle and easily manipulated. Xi knows Biden will never last China responsible for the spy balloon or anything else.
Republicans in the House and Senate are calling on Mr. Biden to make meaningful demands of Mr. Xi.
They want a response from China on its role in the production of fentanyl, which has killed more than 70,000 Americans over the past year, responses to the ongoing and extensive theft of intellectual property that has cost the United States billions of dollars, a condemnation of widespread human rights violations and an explanation of Chinese espionage. on American soil.
Senator Rick Scott, Republican of Florida, said Mr Biden had only appeased China and he expects the same thing on Wednesday.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Xi gave Biden an award for all he’s done to help communist China,” Mr. Scott said.
Mr. Biden’s defenders say he has essentially kept in place the $370 billion in tariffs on Chinese imports imposed by Mr. Asset imposed and ordered the US military to shoot down the Chinese spy balloon. The destruction of the balloon angered the Chinese authorities.
THE White House provided some details about the meeting with Mr. XI but said the Biden administration is “seeking specific results” in areas where the United StatesChina interests overlap, including the fentanyl trade and restoring military-to-military communications.
The two leaders will also discuss the Russian-Ukrainian war and the Israeli war against the terrorist organization Hamas, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said.
“Overall, we hope for a productive meeting,” Mr. Sullivan said Monday. “President Biden has a long history with President Xi, their conversations are direct, simple, and President Biden believes that there is no substitute for leader-to-leader, face-to-face diplomacy in managing this complex relationship between the United States. United. States and China.”
Mr. Sullivan declined to answer a reporter’s question about criticism of the decision to eliminate San Francisco’s dense homeless population before Mr. Xi’s visit.
The suddenly pristine streets, often covered in needles and human feces, have angered those who have demanded for years that city and state officials take control of the city’s homeless crisis. city, only to be ignored until world leaders arrive.
“You have people over, you clean your house,” said California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat.
