Politics

‘We need to be honest about the many unacceptable things the Chinese government is doing’

By Belal Awad · June 25, 2023

A former top foreign policy adviser to Joe Biden berated China for its recent aggressions and called on the White House to stiffen its resolve in dealing with with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Biden insider Jamie Metzl accused Beijing of trying to topple the established “international order that in many ways benefits everybody.”

Metzl, who was deputy staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee under then Senator Joe Biden and also served as a  national security official under President Bill Clinton, told CNN’s Jim Acosta “It’s unfortunate that China is behaving as if just having open lines of communication is some kind of major concession…We can’t act like supplicants…We can’t be manipulated.”

Calling Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Beijing “a very high stakes trip” Metzl said Blinking must deliver tough messages to the Chinese government. Metzl called out China for its unacceptable behavior on numerous fronts, including the South China Sea, Tibet, and the origins of COVID-19. These provocations, he argued, are aimed at undermining the world order and the America alliance’s role in maintaining peace and stability.

Metzl noted the spy balloon as a recent example of China’s aggression, calling it a clear violation of U.S. sovereignty. He said “If the US had floated a spy balloon like that over China, they would have shot it down immediately.” 

On the other hand, Metzl said, “The Cuba issue is a little tougher. Certainly, we don’t like China having a listening post in Cuba, just like they don’t like that we have listening posts in Taiwan…We are in a sense spying on them. That’s what countries do. That’s probably why the Biden administration hasn’t escalated the Cuba story as much as they did…with the spy balloon story.”

On the topic of COVID-19, Metzl criticized China’s handling of the pandemic and its subsequent cover-up. He called the Wuhan Lab leak hypothesis “by far the most likely origin hypothesis” for the virus, and upbraided China for obstructing investigations by destroying samples of the deadly virus, hiding records, and silencing scientists. Metzl said understanding the origins of COVID-19 “is essential for building a safer future.”

Despite China’s hostile behavior, Metzl believes it would be “weird” for President Biden not to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. “None of us lives on an island…We’re going to have to find a way to live with the Chinese, but we need to be honest about the many unacceptable things the Chinese government is doing,” Metzl said.