Biden’s envoys confront China

Joe Biden is unlikely to be alone in expressing “pride” for the way US foreign policy officials stood up to the crass attempts at bullying by China’s top wolf-warrior diplomats during Friday’s rancorous first summit in Anchorage’s Hotel Captain Cook.

Importantly, in sticking to their guns and rebuking Beijing for its “economic coercion towards our allies”, US Secretary of State Tony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan showed that Australia is far from alone in confronting the communist regime’s malicious attempts to cripple our trade. As Trade Minister Dan Tehan said: “All Australians should be reassured by the fact the Americans have come out and said they’ve got our back, and they won’t leave us alone on the playing field.”

Not just Australia but all US allies, especially those in the Indo-Pacific region that are in Beijing’s aggressive sights, should feel similarly reassured. Mr Blinken and Mr Sullivan gave as good as they got from China’s two top foreign policy officials, Yang Jiechi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The meeting was intended to facilitate the first major exchange of views on foreign policy since Mr Biden took office. The two US envoys revealed a determination to confront Chinese bad behaviour that critics may not have expected from the Biden administration. Their strong stand showed just how silly the likes of the ambitious Donald Trump Jr were when, as Mr Biden was being inaugurated in January, he tweeted: “Congratulations China!”

In Anchorage, Mr Blinken and Mr Sullivan gave effect to Mr Biden’s assurance to Scott Morrison during this month’s summit of the Quad nations (the US, Australia, Japan and India) that China can expect to see no substantial improvement in relations with the US as long as it pursues a course of aggression against US allies.

The American envoys’ answer to a hectoring 16-minute tirade from Mr Yang was to strongly reassert US condemnation of China on a wide range of issues. They included not just Beijing’s attempts to coerce US allies such as Australia but also the “genocide” of China’s Uighurs, the suppression of Hong Kong democracy in defiance of international law, threats to overrun Taiwan, the state of human rights in China and Chinese cyber attacks.

Mr Yang targeted human rights and racism in America, referencing Black Lives Matter protests, and condemned the US for what he claimed was its undermining of global stability by using force. The US, Mr Yang insisted, no longer has an overwhelming reservoir of global influence, nor the power to use it against China.

The acrimony between the two sides left little doubt about the extent of their differences. On Saturday, the editor-in-chief of communist mouthpiece The Global Times, Hu Xijin, showed contempt for the US warning about Beijing’s treatment of US allies. “The Chinese delegation has shown the few US allies how China is dealing with the US. China has publicly refuted the US, and for those US lackeys who try to bite China, please behave. Don’t expect China to be polite to them if they always provoke China,” he wrote. President Xi Jinping would be unwise to overlook the policy markers laid down by the Biden administration at Anchorage and what they mean for the future of Washington’s relationship with Beijing. Mr Biden’s declared aim to build a multilateral coalition of the world’s democracies to confront China’s bad behaviour is a strategy that has potentially far-reaching consequences for Beijing. But its success depends on Washington achieving the confidence of allies in its willingness to stand up to China and defend them against its bullying.

As Greg Sheridan wrote on Saturday, there has so far been “no significant international pushback” against the Chinese trade attacks on Australia. The commendable firmness and determination shown by the Biden administration in Anchorage must change that. The concerns raised at the summit must be pursued relentlessly.