Joe Biden and his team (especially his team) are continuing their major international maneuvers to respond to the war in Ukraine, and more generally, to the growing influence of authoritarian powers.
China is in the crosshairs of Biden’s five-day trip to Asia. The objectives of this trip are military, economic and ideological. These great maneuvers began long before the war in Ukraine. However, the attempted annexation of Ukraine has accelerated and facilitated the diplomatic actions of the American government.
What military threats are these?
For more than 10 years, China has turned many rocky islets in the South China Sea into military bases. China claims vast expanses of international waters or even immense maritime spaces which are within the economic zones of 200 nautical miles of all the countries bordering this sea. It attacked Indian territory. It delivers valuable aid to North Korea. It threatens more and more strongly to attack Taiwan. It could soon establish military bases in Oceania. It has become the world’s second military power and its armed power is increasing to the point where it should surpass that of the United States within a few years. This development is of particular concern to India, South Korea, Japan and Australia.
What economic threats are these?
China is the first economic power in the world in purchasing power parity. It harvests the largest number of new patents annually. One of the problems is that the Chinese Communist Party controls all large and medium Chinese enterprises.
This provides these companies with undue commercial advantages over Western companies, particularly in terms of access to capital, access to markets or illicit sourcing of foreign technology. Moreover, the pandemic has shown that global supply chains are fragile. Biden is therefore trying to diversify these channels, among other things to remove them from the influence of China.
This constitutes one of the most important aspects of his trip to Asia. It should be noted that a few days ago, the Europeans and the Americans agreed on the global reconfiguration of production chains. Deporting Huawei to Canada is one such measure. But Huawei is just the tip of the iceberg.
What ideological measures are these?
There is growing evidence that China, like Russia, is spreading insidious and malicious anti-democratic propaganda around the world. For example, Russian and Chinese disinformation is reaching such heights that even in several of the Journal’s response spaces, readers sincerely pick up on Russian propaganda, despite the facts, as if the columnists had not taken care to confront their sources. Democracies are increasingly organizing to fight against this propaganda war that comes from authoritarian countries.
Do democratic countries also do propaganda?
Democratic countries do very little propaganda compared to dictatorial countries. It must be understood that most people who live in dictatorships, the Chinese and the Russians in the first place, would prefer to be free and to be able to criticize their governments. They can’t. Often, fear silences them.
How does the Russian invasion of Ukraine help democracies?
The Russian invasion came as a brutal reminder to democracies that dictatorships are actively working against them. In fact, Putin has done democracies a great service.
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