Biden To Speak On Talks With Xi, Efforts To Cool Tensions

Interview

I thought President Biden was strong but prudent. He's making it clear that there are conflicts. There's a conflict over Taiwan. There's a conflict on human rights with the Uyghurs, with Tibet, with the treatment in Hong Kong, conflict over our trade deficit, massive trade deficit with China, but we have to communicate. We have to have our militaries communicating, and the president, I think, is strike the right balance.

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I mean, the military-to-military communication is essential, especially with the heightened tensions in the South China Sea and in the Pacific. We don't want an accidental conflict to begin, and it is important that we have that communication, like we had at height of the Cold War with the Soviet Union.

The fentanyl crackdown would be a big win for the administration.

But there are still outstanding issues of human rights and there are big issues of our trade deficits, which continues to grow, hollowing out manufacturing here at China's gain, that needs to be addressed.

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Look, China has an interest because they also need relations in the Middle East to work. They have relations also, as you know, with Saudi Arabia. They want to build relations with other countries in the Middle East. It's in no one's interest for there to be a wider war in the Middle East that would have a catastrophic effect on oil prices, on energy supplies. So, I do think here is a place where our interests may align.

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I think foreign policy is actually going to matter and people are going say, who do you want in charge of the most powerful nation in the world when you've got a war in the Middle East, right, as we do now, when you have relations with China as you do now. And I think Americans are going to say we trust Biden and President Biden's hand.

Of course, it's going to be a tough election, a hard fought election, but, ultimately, I think his statesmanship is going to help him prevail.

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I think he should talk about the key concessions that he obtained. Hopefully, he did get the concession about fentanyl. That is an enormous issue in the United States, so many deaths because of fentanyl. If he can get China to crack down, that's big. Hopefully, he has gotten the commitment on resuming the communications with China and our militaries.

And then I think he also needs to be clear about where China needs to improve. He needs to talk about the human rights situation with the Uyghurs, with Tibet, with Hong Kong, and he needs to make it clear that America is not going to continue the colossal mistake of off- shoring. China needs to play fair. They need to allow America to make things again and not to have these massive trade deficits.

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Thank you.

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