Marc Thiessen calls out Biden's 'strategic insanity' toward China after Xi meeting
Former Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen slams President Biden amid overseas trip on 'America's Newsroom.'
President Biden's diplomacy with China is "strategic insanity" that may only help the autocratic Communist state accumulate power and global influence, former Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen told Fox News on Monday.
The president traveled to Cambodia to take part in the ASEAN Summit, which comprises mostly of southeast Asian nations.
Biden reportedly has been pressuring China to essentially join him in his Green New Deal-style vision of non-petroleum power sources, which Thiessen said is one of the key areas the United States can apply pressure to Beijing if they invade their peaceable neighbor Taiwan.
"The last thing we want China to do, quite frankly, is to start weaning itself off of oil," he said on "America's Newsroom."
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Most of China's oil supply travels north through the Straits of Malacca off Sumatra, Indonesia, he said, pointing out the U.S. could block the straits if China took aggressive action toward Taipei – except if China no longer had a need for foreign oil.
"If they follow Biden's advice and wean themselves off of oil and start embracing clean energy, we lose that leverage," Thiessen said.
"So, you know, it's not only a sign of weakness, it's strategic insanity."
"Xi Jinping has been just as clear [as Vladimir Putin had in 2021 toward Ukraine] about what he intends to do in Taiwan. He has made clear that reunification cannot wait," he added.
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US President Joe Biden (C) attends the ASEAN-US Summit during the 40th and 41st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summits in Phnom Penh on November 12, 2022. ( (Photo by TANG CHHIN Sothy / AFP) (Photo by TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP via Getty Images))
"And he has a promise, he said he will not issue the use of military force to accomplish it. They've been very, very clear. So we need to ask ourselves as a country and this administration needs to ask itself, what will we wish we had done to help Taiwan if an invasion happens? What do we wish we had done before Russia invaded Ukraine? And what kind of weapons would we wish we had given them?"
Thiessen and retired Gen. Jack Keane appeared to agree that Biden's continued self-congratulatory attitude toward simply holding talks with Beijing rather than issuing ultimatums or projecting strength is the least ideal strategy at this point.
"They love to talk. The tone is always conciliatory. It's usually pretty friendly, except for a couple of exceptions – talking is good and certainly their counterparts are going to talk after this... But listen, we've got to be realistic about this and don't put too much comfort into it," Keane said.
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Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), center left, poses for photographs after receiving the Order of Propitious Clouds with Special Grand Cordon, Taiwan’s highest civilian honor, from Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen, center right, at the president's office. (Chien Chih-Hung/Office of The President via Getty Images)
"We have had counterpart-to-counterpart talk with Russia prior to the invasion; secretary of state, secretary of defense, chairman of the Joint Chiefs… and what happened? Putin did what he wanted to do because he thought he could get away with it. So let's not be too comforted by the talks."
China, like Russia, is "notorious," Keane said, for projecting one air in their diplomacy and taking different action in real life.
Keane warned the U.S. military – at this point under Biden's leadership – could actually lose a war to a country like China.
"In my mind, the number one issue that needed to be put on the table here, and it doesn't appear that President Biden did… was look President Xi in the eye and just tell them straight out that -- 'President Xi listen, it is your aggression, intimidation and coercion of Taiwan that's forcing us to up-gun Taiwan and increase their training and also to use our allies in a political and military alliance. And if you invade Taiwan, you're forcing my hand, and I'm going to confront that militarily,'" he said.
Keane underlined how Biden has so far at least publicly failed to express that, which he warned could lead to the perception of ambiguity on the issue of Taiwanese self-governance.