#Beijing not bothered by Biden’s lame bid to rally Europeans against China

Beijing isn’t looking too impressed by President Joe Biden’s efforts to rally Europe into a common front at the G-7 and NATO summits.

Getting the allies to join in confronting Beijing’s various outrages was the top priority of his first overseas trip as prez. He got some nice words in the G-7 statement: It called “on China to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, especially in relation to Xinjiang and those rights, freedoms and high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong” and talked up “the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”

Yet on the hot issue of COVID’s origins, the G-7 called for . . . yet another investigation led by the China-cowed World Health Organization, which has already failed the world on that score more than once.

Most telling: The G-7 communiqué included this drivel on economy and trade: “With regard to China, and competition in the global economy, we will continue to consult [emphasis added] on collective approaches to challenging non-market policies and practices which undermine the fair and transparent operation of the global economy.” 

Translation: “We’re too scared to jeopardize our exports to China so we’ll pay lame lip service to action while we actually do nothing.”

And Beijing roared back, accusing the West of “slandering” China’s “peaceful development” and bringing back a “Cold War mentality.”

More to the point, the NATO post-summit communiqué only mentioned China 10 times while hitting Vladimir Putin’s Russia 61. And China’s answer to that was its largest air sortie near Taiwan in months, a flight of 28 aircraft further ratcheting up its military pressure on the tiny and democratic island.

In short, Beijing concluded that Biden’s bid to rally Europe was a bust: It’s going to continue its bullying ways.