Hrmm… Biden sees an “imminent thaw” in China relations. I wonder why?

With the G-7 wrapping up in Japan, Joe Biden agreed to a rare moment when he took a few questions and addressed reporters. He was asked about the obvious elephant in the room, that being America’s tense relations with China as the prospect of war in Taiwan looms. He was either expressing an unwarranted level of optimism or some form of delusion when he gave a surprisingly upbeat response. He told reporters that he expected to see a “thaw” in relations “very shortly.” He also called the Chinese spy balloon that toured our country “silly.” So was the President simply trying to paint a sunny picture of a bad situation or does he really have some sort of plan in mind? I shudder to think of the possibilities. (Wall Street Journal, subscription required)

President Biden said Sunday he expected a thaw in relations with China, a day after he and other Group of Seven leaders took steps to tackle what they see as Beijing’s economic intimidation…

“Then this silly balloon that was carrying two freight cars worth of spy equipment was flying over the United States and it got shot down and everything changed in terms of talking to one another,” Biden said, referring to an incident early this year involving a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon.

“I think you’re going to see that begin to thaw very shortly,” he said. 

What has China done or said in recent days that would lead us to expect some sort of cooling of tensions and an improved relationship? It’s true that Jake Sullivan has been holding meetings with China’s foreign affairs chief in Vietnam. Also, an invitation to visit the United States was extended to China’s Minister of Commerce and he’s expected to arrive this week. Is it possible that some progress was made during those talks?

Biden also suggested that we may be dropping or reducing some sanctions on Chinese officials, including Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Li Shangfu. But thus far it sounds like all of the concessions are coming from our side. What is China offering in return? We already know that they’re not going to back down on their rhetoric about Taiwan or stop expanding their military capabilities. And they have continued to sell arms to Russia under the table while publicly calling for peace talks.

I’m all for lowering the temperature with China if it can be done in a responsible way. We’ve got enough on our hands with the situation in Ukraine and we don’t need to rush headlong into a war with China whether it’s direct or by proxy. But this simply looks suspicious. And why is Biden downplaying the Chinese spy balloon all of a sudden?

This attitude also appears to be in contrast to what the rest of the G-7 leaders were saying this week. They put out a joint communique saying that they would “counter malign practices” by China and “foster resilience to economic coercion.” Presumably, Joe Biden was included in the statement. But now he’s talking as if everything is coming up roses.

This sudden shift in attitude leaves me wondering about something many people have feared for a while. With all the recent revelations about Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings coming to light, is Joe Biden compromised when it comes to China? After all, if they suddenly dumped some inconvenient receipts for millions of dollars in payments to Biden Inc. into public view, that could be very problematic.