OPINION:
Is there anything more confusing than President Biden’s policy toward China? It’s possible that there is, but nothing comes to mind.
Mr. Biden has, at least four times, stated that we would defend Taiwan, only to have Cabinet members back away from that promise. When China flew one or more spy balloons over the U.S., Mr. Biden ordered one shot down after it had traversed the country and later exonerated China’s leaders by saying they weren’t responsible for the incidents.
Twice in a month, Mr. Biden has sent senior Cabinet members on missions to Beijing, supposedly to “reduce tensions” between us and China, without any positive result. Unless, however, you consider the just-completed Chinese-Russian joint war games in the Sea of Japan a positive result. It was reportedly the first time that both Russia’s air and naval forces participated in such an exercise.
When, on July 8, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen bowed three times to her counterpart — Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng — there was no hint of disapproval from the White House. At their meeting, Mr. He accused the U.S. of acting irrationally, saying, “We wish the U.S. side would take a rational and practical attitude, meet with the Chinese side halfway.”
No American, let alone a Cabinet member or a president, should ever bow to any foreign official. Nevertheless, American businesses, sports leagues and the entertainment industry take great pains to cozy up to China.
Remember last year’s “Top Gun: Maverick” flick? Just before the Oscars were awarded, MSNBC opinion editor Zeeshan Aleem condemned it — the only non-“woke” movie to come out of Hollywood in about a decade — as the “most insidious movie” because it showed the U.S. military as a “beacon of virtue.”
It certainly did that, and it also sent subtle messages that we stand for Taiwan against China. The hero’s jacket, shown in one camera shot, featured a four-flag patch including the Taiwanese flag as one of the nations that had participated in a joint military exercise.
“Top Gun: Maverick” went on to earn more than $1 billion at the box office despite being banned in China because of the Taiwanese flag shot.
I haven’t seen the new “Barbie” movie and, not having a granddaughter in proximity, am unlikely to ever see it. Which is not a disappointment for a great many reasons, including one particular scene that reportedly goes too far to grovel to the Chinese.
In that scene, the Barbie doll is supposed to be going out into the real world. The map of the “real world” shown behind her displays China’s claims to virtually all of the South China Sea, demarcating them along the “Nine-Dash Line.”
The “Nine-Dash Line” goes southwest from China’s Hainan Island very close to Vietnam. It continues past the Paracel Islands, which China claims, as far south as James Shoal off Malaysia. It continues north from there, encompassing the Spratley Islands, brushing almost against the Philippines and, of course, it encompasses Taiwan.
China has no legitimate claim to any of those seas and territories. But that is no matter to “Barbie’s” producers.
The Barbie map is probably of little consequence to Western audiences, because few parents and probably no little girls will recognize its importance. It’s just an effort to play to Chinese officials who will approve the movie to be shown in China, opening it to whatever profits it can earn there. China will certainly take part of those profits.
We should be used to entertainment and sports leagues cozying up to China. According to an ESPN report, NBA owners have about $10 billion invested in China, including one team owner whose company has a joint venture with a sanctioned Chinese company.
This past February, the NBA and the Ant Group — a Chinese financial and technology company — announced a partnership through which Chinese viewers can pay to watch NBA games.
Our government cannot stop companies from investing in China or bowing to China’s aggressive claims in movies. But there is, nevertheless, something wrong in those companies and movies helping to enrich China.
Only those responsible for those companies and movies can regulate their behavior. And they should, because China is preparing its forces for war in the conventional, nuclear and asymmetrical arenas.
In a July 10 Washington Times report, we learned that China is developing “neural strike” weapons. According to that report, “Neurostrike is a military term defined as the engineered targeting of the brains of military personnel or civilians using nonkinetic technology. The goal is to impair thinking, reduce situational awareness, inflict long-term neurological damage and cloud normal cognitive functions.”
The weapons, according to the study cited in that report, could be used to disrupt troops and government functions in preparation for or during war.
Such weapons are apparently not new. In 2016, U.S. diplomats in Cuba suffered persistent headaches, vertigo, blurred vision and hearing phantom sounds. China — or Russia — could have been testing neural strike weapons in those incidents. There have been other such incidents since then in other countries.
The Chinese needn’t use neural strike weapons on President Biden. His mind — and his policy toward China — are confused enough already.
• Jed Babbin is a national security and foreign affairs columnist for The Washington Times and contributing editor for The American Spectator. He can be reached at jlbabbin@gmail.com.
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