Once Again, Beijing Refuses to Yield to Biden Administration’s Pressure

Just days after the New York Times had revealed a few aspects of the super-secret nuclear plan adopted by the Biden Administration last March, focused on the need to deter China, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was in Beijing Aug. 27-29, where he held up to eleven hours of discussion with Foreign Minister Wang Yi. This was the first visit to China by a National Security Advisor in eight years, although Sullivan has reportedly had a number of quasi-secret discussions with Chinese officials.

His trip also comes just one week after the U.S. had announced new sanctions on major Chinese companies that export non-lethal machine tools and electronic components to Russia. In that respect, one of Sullivan’s major objectives was to pressure the country’s leaders into restricting trade with Russia, in particular of all goods that might possibly serve to strengthen “Russia’s defense industrial base”. However, China’s leaders have, politely but firmly, rebuffed the West’s attempt to drive a wedge between the two countries, that have grown much closer over the past years, largely due to both being treated as enemies by the collective West.

The Biden Administration’s emissary had just as little success on the subject of nuclear deterrence. After his visit, spokesperson Wu Qian of the Chinese Defense Ministry charged Washington with using the pretext of “a non-existent China nuclear threat” to expand its own arsenal. China keeps its nuclear force at a minimum level, he said, and maintains a no-first-use doctrine for nuclear arms, while the U.S. allows for a first strike.

Nonetheless, President Xi Jinping did take the time to receive Jake Sullivan, and explain to him personally his foreign policy. As usual, he proposed a conciliatory approach, stressing that in a changing and turbulent world, countries need solidarity and coordination, not division or confrontation. The U.S. and China, in his view, “should be responsible for history, for the people and for the world, and should be a source of stability for world peace and a propeller for common development”.