January 27, 2021
On cue, White House press secretary Jen Psaki has signaled that President Joe Biden's administration is not prepared to seriously confront the complex and immediate threat communist China poses to American security and world peace.
Earlier this month, incoming secretary of state Antony Blinken acknowledged communist China presents a formidable problem and added former President Donald Trump's administration "was right in taking a tougher approach to China." The tough approach was "helpful" to U.S. foreign policy.
For a Blinken moment, it looked as if the Biden administration might get China right, too.
But in her Jan. 25 press briefing, Psaki soft-pedaled. The new administration, she said, starts "from an approach of patience as it relates to our relationship with China." She then unloaded a dictionary's worth of Beltway jargon, promising consultations galore and an "interagency process" review "in order to take a multilateral approach to engaging with China."