US ties with Russia, China sink as Biden toes tough lines

WASHINGTON (AP):

United States relations with its two biggest geopolitical rivals are facing severe tests as President Joe Biden tries to assert America’s place in the world and distinguish himself from his predecessor.

Airing myriad complaints, the Biden administration took an extraordinarily tough line with China and Russia this past week. Public spats between the countries erupted as Biden characterised Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “killer” and his top national security aides excoriated China for a litany of issues.

Moscow and Beijing both fired back, setting the stage for months, if not more, of escalating tensions that are unlikely to be resolved without intense discussions at the leadership level and major concessions from all sides.

Biden himself kicked off the latest round of recrimination in a television interview in which he sought to draw clear differences between his Russia policies and those of former President Donald Trump, who was accused of being soft on Putin. Just 24 hours later, Biden’s top diplomat and national security adviser blasted Chinese officials in face-to-face talks.

Although Biden’s strong comments about Putin reflected a shift from Trump’s often conciliatory approach to the Kremlin, the harsh criticism directed at China by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan in many ways mirrored the previous administration’s hard line toward Beijing.

NO MORE ‘ROLLING OVER’

The contrasting styles suggested that Biden is intent on reversing years of perceived US weakness toward Russia while rejecting Trump’s 2020 campaign allegations that he’s not tough enough on China.

In taking a strong line on Russia, Biden has said the days of the US “rolling over” to Putin are done. And, in the interview with ABC broadcast on Wednesday, Biden replied “I do” when asked if he thought Putin was a “killer”. Russia responded by recalling its ambassador in Washington for consultations.

Putin then shot back by pointing to the US history of slavery, the slaughter of Native Americans and the atomic bombing of Japan in World War II in an “it-takes-one-to-know-one” response.

As that was unfolding, on Thursday in Alaska, China’s top two diplomats reacted in similar fashion to criticism from Blinken and Sullivan about Beijing’s human rights record in the western Xinjiang region and Tibet and its aggressive actions in Hong Kong, Taiwan and the South China Sea.

Russia’s relations with the United States and the European Union already had plunged to post-Cold War lows after Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, meddling in elections, hacking attacks and, most recently, the jailing of Russia’s opposition leader Alexei Navalny after his poisoning, which he blamed on the Kremlin. Russian authorities rejected the accusations.

Then, the US national intelligence director’s office released a report finding that Putin authorized influence operations to help Trump’s re-election bid. The Biden administration warned that Russia would face sanctions soon over its attempt to influence the election and the widespread SolarWinds hacks.