President Biden “walked into the United Nations and slapped a giant ‘Kick Me’ sign on Uncle Sam’s back” with his remarks before the General Assembly Tuesday, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) told Fox News.
“This speech was a disgrace at the United Nations … And in particular, as it relates to China,” Cotton told host Laura Ingraham of Biden’s address, which did not refer to America’s largest geopolitical rival by name. “He bent over backwards to conciliate and appease the Chinese Communist Party.”
In his address, the president sought to reassure his audience that “we are not seeking a new Cold War or a world divided into rigid blocs.
“The United States is ready to work with any nation that steps up and pursues peaceful resolution to shared challenges, even if we have intense disagreements in other areas,” Biden said, “because we’ll all suffer the consequences of our failure if we do not come together to address the urgent threats like COVID-19 and climate change or enduring threats like nuclear proliferation.”
“He said we don’t seek a new Cold War,” Cotton remarked. “Well, China has been waging a Cold War against America and our workers and our military for decades. So the question is not whether we seek one, the question is whether or not we will fight back in it.
“Yet, Joe Biden wouldn’t even say the word ‘China,’” the senator added. “He’s apparently too scared to even mention China’s name in a speech addressed to the world’s leaders. What kind of signal does that send to them? What kind of signal does it send to the leaders of Beijing? I can tell you what they’re doing right now: They are laughing at Joe Biden.”
Washington and Beijing have butted heads in recent years over a variety of issues, including trade, intellectual property, China’s military ambitions in the South China Sea, and the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Efforts by the Biden administration to open discussions of how to counter climate change have been largely rebuffed as well.
Hours after Biden announced the US would increase financial aid to poorer nations to $11.4 billion by 2024 so those countries could switch to cleaner energy, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that Beijing will no longer fund coal-fired power plants abroad. If it is honored, that promise could shutter 47 planned power plants in 20 developing countries — though critics noted the announcement lacked details like effective dates and whether it applied to private funding as well as public funding.
With Post wires
