China’s been making some very bold moves as of late and there’s little doubt that it has to do with President Joe Biden’s milquetoast position when it comes to dealing with the communist nation. It’s a take that former Obama Defense Secretary Robert Gates thinks Biden is getting very wrong, and something that Trump got very right.
Gates appeared on CBS’s “60 Minutes” in an interview with Anderson Cooper where he had nice things to say about Biden’s “integrity” but didn’t softball it about the president’s foreign policy decisions, especially on China.
“I think he’s gotten a lot wrong,” Gates said, making it clear he wasn’t just talking about Biden’s years as president either.
“He opposed every one of Ronald Reagan’s military programs to contest the Soviet Union,” elaborated Gates. “He opposed the first Gulf War. This list could go on. Let me just say, however, that we had some differences in Afghanistan during the Obama administration. But he and I did agree in our opposition to the intervention in Libya, and frankly on issues relating to Russia and China.”
Gates said that when it came to Afghanistan, Biden’s withdrawal was a mistake and that it’s unlikely Biden will ever admit this, as no president ever really admits to their mistakes. However, Gates believes that Biden will be able to recover from Afghanistan’s debacle thanks to the submarine agreement between Australia, Australia and the UK. This deal will show China that there is an immediate and grave threat if they decide to invade the Pacific.
Gates thinks that China poses the biggest threat to America, both militarily and economically. He believes Trump was the one who got it right in dealing with China.
This is where I believe President Trump has done it right. He basically awakened Americans, and I would say especially the business community, to a China that — the assumptions about which we had gotten wrong. And the assumption for 40 years was that a richer China would be a freer China, and that’s clearly not going to happen. But there’s another piece of this puzzle with China, and that is the economic side. The Chinese currently manage more than 30 major ports across the globe. More than half of South America’s largest trading partners are Chinese. They’re everywhere. They are everywhere.
It was interesting that Gates stated that Biden and he had a tendency to agree about China in the Obama years. However, he didn’t elaborate on whether Biden has it right now. However, his pointing out that Trump did get it right is a clear indicator that the current sitting president isn’t measuring up.
Earlier Monday, RedState reported that China launched a hypersonic missile capable of delivering a nuclear payload to anywhere in the world, alarming analysts and causing Republican Mike Gallagher of the armed services committee to call Biden’s approach to China “complacent.”
“We will lose the New Cold War with Communist China within the decade,” warned Gallagher.
(READ: Republican Issues a Dire Warning To Biden As China Shows That Its Missile Technology Is Far More Advanced Than We Think)
This latest move from China, as well as its clear threats against Taiwan, have tested Biden’s mettle against the communist country, but Biden’s approach has been to try to talk things out, differing from Trump’s approach which was to show strength if anyone got out of line.
With China, this may be the best approach as it’s clear that the threat posed by China will only be lessened if they see the might of the United States and its allies. These comments may be Gates’ way of dropping hints to Biden on how to proceed with China, but the question is whether Biden will have the mettle to do it.
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