Clarence Page: Xi ‘Making Every Move He Can’ Because He Knows Biden Won’t Let Him Get away with It

On Friday’s “McLaughlin Group Extra,” Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page stated that Chinese President Xi Jinping is “making every move he can on human rights, on press freedom, on Hong Kong freedoms,” “Because he knows he won’t be able to get away with this stuff with President Biden.”

While discussing whether there is a cold war between the U.S. and China, Page said, “President Trump loves to shadowbox, but he doesn’t really want to fight. He doesn’t want to fight this war. That’s why it’s so dangerous to have these carrier groups facing each other out there. What if one missile goes off accidentally? … But I don’t think Trump is serious about really wanting to have a war heat up. That’s why President Xi is making every move he can on human rights, on press freedom, on Hong Kong freedoms, the violations of the treaty by which they were able to take over Hong Kong. Because he knows he won’t be able to get away with this stuff with President Biden. So, it’s going to be — like I say, we’ve seen signs of a cold war here. But I think that we certainly have a hot diplomatic war and economic war. That’s what we really have to deal with here.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett