GOOD MORNING FROM LONDON #227
Since the tense high-level Anchorage talks between China/US, the two countries have wrestled/wrangled over all aspects of China/US relations – Taiwan, Imperialism, Uyghurs including scraps re China’s simulated attack on USS Theodore Roosevelt + China flights over Taiwan air defences. The background is the Thucydides Principle + the rising prospect of war.
China has rebuffed the US request for talks with China’s top military man, Xu Qiling, a Politburo member and Vice-Chair of the key Central Military Commission. The US is in a quandry as China keeps the initiative.
China is alert + fully aware. The US is undecided + indecisive. The stand-off is part of the US determination to “put China in its place” and the China determination, as stated at Anchorage “Don’t talk down to us”.
This has been a long time coming – since 1949 + certainly since 1979. There are no quick fixes. For China, the US has to change. The world situation is now quite different. Does Biden see this?