China: Joe Biden’s Entire Presidency a ‘Sleepwalk’

China’s state-run Global Times on Sunday said the Biden presidency “is looking increasingly like a sleepwalk” and linked Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan to almost every U.S. policy China dislikes, beginning with the latest American intelligence report on the origins of the Wuhan coronavirus.

“The COVID-19 [Chinese coronavirus] origins-tracing report, written by 18 US intelligence agencies, is simply a mess. In the report, only criticism of the Chinese government remains clear,” the Global Times sputtered.

The editorial linked the coronavirus report to the Afghanistan pullout, a “rebound of epidemic with over 200,000 new cases of Covid-19 infections every day,” ongoing political polarization, and the Biden administration propping up America’s “seeming prosperity” by “printing a large amount of cash” as evidence of Biden’s failure.

“There has been no sign of reaching any achievement of the goals set as early as the former president Donald Trump era – attracting manufacturing back to the US and improving the quality of domestic employment,” the Global Times sneered.

According to the Chinese Communist newspaper, the blame does not truly lie with Biden’s sleepwalking leadership, but with flaws in the “degenerating American system, which is unable to reform itself.”

Chief among those flaws, according to the article, is America’s stubborn insistence on picking fights with disciplined, committed, brilliantly managed China, which the hapless United States has no chance of winning:

American leaders lack experience in solving difficult problems, and the US society is unable to form a collective force. They often deal with major issues based on their subjective wishes, which requires the support of overwhelming resources. They cannot bear twists, turns and setbacks. Any adverse change may easily lead to an endless delay of fixing issues.

The US wants to gang up with its allies, pooling resources to engage in a comprehensive strategic competition with China. The mentality has spread easily in the US, leading to an overwhelming trend. As a result, it turned into an issue of black or white, which is in line with the US gene of polarizing the politics. 

For instance, the Biden administration proposed an infrastructure plan in an almost planned economy way just because of China’s successes in infrastructure construction. The US abandoned Afghanistan and fled the country because it needs to concentrate on its competition with China in the Western Pacific.

The Global Times advised Americans to accept their new second-class status as China’s economy, “full of impetus and vitality for continuous development,” eclipses the somnolent American system and Beijing assumes its rightful position as the new global hegemon.

“To do its own things well is China’s strategy and slogan, while to screw things up for China is those of the U.S.,” the editorial concluded. “This determines that China has the bigger initiative than the U.S. does in the struggle. As a result, the number of domestic COVID-19 infections is quickly reduced to almost zero in China while the epidemic in the U.S. is out of control, again.”

Another triumphalist editorial in the Global Times on Monday celebrated the final demise of American diplomatic leadership and military prestige under Biden:

A series of attacks in Kabul is continually damaging the US’ image as it has failed to protect its troops, Afghan locals and other foreign nationals of its allies who want to leave with Americans. Although the US could launch retaliatory attacks against ISIS-K, who claimed that an ISIS militant carried out Thursday’s suicide attack at Kabul’s airport, it still cannot effectively improve the situation at the airport, said Chinese analysts, adding that the embarrassing and terrible handling of the Afghan issue would make Biden and the Democrats lose badly in the midterm election next year.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi stepped in to take charge of the situation and lecture flailing U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on how to stabilize Afghanistan:

“The facts have proven that the US war in Afghanistan has not accomplished the mission to eliminate terrorists in the country. The hasty evacuation of the US and NATO troops will very likely provide new opportunities for terrorists groups in Afghanistan to stage a comeback,” Wang said. 

“The US should take concrete actions, based on the precondition of respecting the sovereignty of Afghanistan, to help the country to eliminate terrorism and stop violence, rather than practice double standards on counter-terrorism or selectively strike terrorists,” Wang said.

Wang said it is necessary for all parties to engage with the Taliban and actively guide them. The US in particular needs to work with the international community to provide much-needed economic, livelihood and humanitarian assistance, he said. 

The Global Times reported on the “unnecessary bloodshed” in Kabul, supposedly caused by U.S. forces indiscriminately shooting Afghans after the airport bombing on Thursday, and suggested Biden killed no one but Afghan civilians in his retaliatory drone strike.

As with the earlier Global Times editorial, gloating over the Afghanistan debacle segued into carping about the U.S. intelligence report on the origins of the coronavirus, portrayed as an “embarrassing” failure in the U.S. effort to “politicize the matter to stigmatize China.”

The second piece ended with the Global Times citing “Chinese experts” who wondered if Biden messed up Afghanistan on purpose to “disturb the safety and stability of its neighbors, including China.”