By Matthew Mai
U.S. President Joe Biden was reportedly rebuffed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in September when Biden offered to hold a summit meeting with the Chinese leader. While the administration has been relatively successful at engaging regional allies and partners—the landmark deal to equip treaty ally Australia with nuclear-powered submarines being a good example—it has had far less success with Beijing.
This trend should not be regarded lightly. Intense security competition without clearly defined red lines carries a host of risks that make constructive diplomacy between the world’s premier great powers a necessity.
For Beijing, intransigence and rhetorical belligerence serve a purpose. At every high-level meeting between U.S. and Chinese officials, the latter have repeatedly asserted that cooperation on select issues of mutual interest “cannot be divorced from the overall situation of China-U.S. relations.” In other words, China is adhering to the logic of linkage. Improvements in one area of U.S.-China relations will depend on how much progress is made in other areas.
This piece was originally published in Real Clear World on October 4, 2021. Read more HERE.