Four hours of talks between Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in San Francisco last month delivered very little substance.
Another promise from Xi to “get tough” on Chinese domestic fentanyl precursor labs, a resumption of military-to-military contacts, a promise of more giant pandas to U.S. zoos, a resumption of more direct flights from China to the United States, and a commitment to continue with cabinet- and sub-cabinet-level discussions on a variety of topics—these “accomplishments” warranted all the praise from mainstream media?
A sampling of headlines and claims:
As reported by UnHerd, “Xi Jinping should have entered San Francisco’s Apec conference with his tail between his legs, but instead has emerged as something closer to the king of the world.”
The Hill touted, “Chinese leader Xi gets standing ovation at banquet with U.S. executives.”
A headline from the Financial Times claimed that, as a result of Xi’s brief visit to the United States, there was “a hint of thaw in the new cold war” and a “sign of progress after a period of high tensions.”
Xi’s Public Message—The CCP View
As reported by Newsweek, U.S. business executives spent $40,000 to dine with Xi on Nov. 15. The capitalists present—including Tim Cook (Apple CEO), Stephen Schwarzman (Blackstone Group CEO), and Ray Dalio (Bridgewater Associates founder)—gave the top communist in the world a standing ovation and were enthralled by Xi’s standard fare of “win-win cooperation” and other platitudes.Xi’s comments at the dinner were spun by CCP mouthpiece People’s Daily on Nov. 23. He claimed that “China’s development is driven by its inherent logic and dynamics.” Xi also said that China “will not take the old path of colonization and plundering, or the wrong path of seeking hegemony with growing strength. It does not export its ideology.” Lastly, the CCP “has no plan to surpass or unseat the United States.”
Virtually all of those claims are false. For the communists, the smokescreen is all about “mutual respect and equal treatment”—but on the CCP’s terms. That phrase, “inherent logic and dynamics,” translates into the iron control and whimsical, unscientific decision-making of the CCP.
The communists have already completed a major colonial period with their ongoing occupation and pacification of Tibet and East Turkmenistan. The CCP has greedy eyes focused on disputed sectors along the Sino-Indian Line of Actual Control and in the South China and West Philippine Seas. The CCP’s “new path” is actually an old one used by nations throughout history: might makes right. Finally, the Chinese regime’s goal to displace the United States has been well-documented, including by Xi’s own “global initiatives.”
Motivation for Xi’s Trip
Thanks in large part to Xi’s signature zero-COVID policy, China’s economy has staggered, with the underlying problems of massive local debt and a depressed real estate market becoming increasingly evident. The problems have been exacerbated by Xi’s Mao-like anti-corruption campaign, security clampdowns, and purges of erstwhile loyal Party members.An interesting analysis from Nikkei suggests that Xi was under considerable pressure from Party elders and “second-generation Reds” to restore the stable U.S.–China relationship successfully pursued by his predecessors, resulting in massive Western investments in China since the 1980s. Second-generation Reds refers to the children of revolutionary-era Party leaders (such as Xi himself) who have risen to power and benefited directly from their “partnerships” with Chinese industry.
These people are ostensibly alarmed at the recent flight of foreign companies from China in the face of Xi’s increasing authoritarianism, tightening of internal security controls under the new counterespionage law, scaring away foreign investors through new regulations and audits, and saber-rattling in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea.
Concluding Thoughts
As reported in the Financial Times, “China’s share of world GDP is on pace to shrink 1.4 percentage points over two years,” signaling a reversal of the “Chinese miracle” over the past five decades. The Chinese economy stands on three legs: exports, real estate development, and foreign direct investment. Two of those three legs are in dire straits, with the third in decline, according to various reports.Reuters reported that local debt in China topped $9 trillion in March. That problem is exacerbated by the “hidden debt” created by those local governments to hide their problems. As noted by Taiwan’s Central News Agency on Nov. 9, “local governments have violated national-level policy by forcing state-owned enterprises and banks to advance billions of yuan in funds for urban development, infrastructure projects, and other expenditures that should have been funded by municipal or provincial budgets instead.”
Radio Free Asia reported on Nov. 14 that “China’s exports fell in October by 6.4 percent year-over-year in U.S. dollar terms.”
Nikkei noted on Nov. 4 that “outflows of foreign direct investment in China have exceeded inflows for the first time ... the first negative figure in data going back to 1998.”
