Joe Biden Got Absolutely Played by China on Russia and Ukraine – Opinion

As intense fighting in Ukraine continues as a result of Russia’s invasion, a new report offers some shocking details about how inept Joe Biden’s strategy was in trying to prevent the current carnage.

According to The New York Times’, classified intelligence was given by the Biden administration to Chinese communists to try to win their support for Vladimir Putin. This was unwise and helped Russia only in its march to war.

Over three months, senior Biden administration officials held half a dozen urgent meetings with top Chinese officials in which the Americans presented intelligence showing Russia’s troop buildup around Ukraine and beseeched the Chinese to tell Russia not to invade, according to U.S. officials.

The Chinese ambassador and foreign minister rebuffed American requests, saying that they didn’t believe an invasion was imminent. After one diplomatic exchange in December, U.S. officials got intelligence showing Beijing had shared the information with Moscow, telling the Russians that the United States was trying to sow discord — and that China would not try to impede Russian plans and actions, the officials said.

My view is that there are two parts.

It is ridiculous to imagine that the Russians would be able to use intelligence shared with China to create anything. By going to the Chinese, one of Russia’s most trustworthy allies, the United States telegraphed that we were already playing defense. To get Xi Jinping’s attention to stop Putin and make it clear to our enemies that there was no greater counter to this, Both men shared a laugh about this one, no doubt. It was a strategy move that was absurd and counter-productive. Russia will likely be encouraged by it.

After all, if optics and perceptions matter, and we’ve been assured that they do by those now demanding a “rally around the flag” moment for Biden, then they mattered when the administration signaled to China (and ultimately Russia) that the United States was operating from a position of weakness. Besides, I’m old enough to remember when Trump sharing a sliver of intelligence about terrorist attacks on airplanes with the Russians was considered treasonous. Now, we learn that Biden shared classified intelligence with the Chinese, who then passed it to the Russians in an effort to support Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. There’s no question which action was worse.

But then there’s the second part of this, which requires taking a more macro view of things. Is it possible that the Biden Administration, Joe Biden included, has not learned anything about China over the past several years. Is it just arrogance that these people thought they could convince Xi Jinping, despite his aggression?

It is a danger to base every decision on political politics. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not claiming to be non-partisan by any means, but I also don’t dismiss objectively right positions simply because a Democrat may also hold them. The US attitude toward China should have been an area where Biden was elected and recognized that Trump had the right to adopt an aggressive position against them. But the president seems to believe that he can sweet-talk communists, because if they oppose the orange man how could they be?

Another sign of the shallow stupidity that is emanating the Biden administration, this move. Hashtags and lofty speeches do not counter tyrants, and “smart power” is just code for genuflection. We shouldn’t even be attempting to work with China on major geopolitical questions. That we are shows no lessons have been learned, and that’s disturbing.