With New Crackdown, Biden Wages Global Campaign on Chinese Technology
By Patrick Martin
11 September 2019
During the current Democratic primary contest, Joe Biden has been taking up the mantle of “anti-China,” using his considerable political capital to wage a campaign on the China-bashing theme, which could see a major boost of support in the general election.
Biden’s first round of attacks on China started during the 2016 presidential campaign, when Biden argued that Republican candidate Donald Trump had been “too tough” on China. Since then, Biden has repeated his line at almost every turn.
In March of last year, for example, Biden claimed that China was “essentially a communist system” in a speech at the United Nations. He then went on to accuse China of “stealing American jobs” and said that “America’s ability to compete in the global economy may be at stake.”
In June, Biden went even further, blasting China as “an authoritarian regime” that “murders its own citizens and persecutes its own citizenry.” Biden had previously claimed that “millions of people in China believe in a Communist government or a Communist ideology.”
Biden has also launched a campaign to bring China to the United States, claiming that the “Americanization” of China was a “genuine threat” to American values and security.
In September of last year, Biden warned that “China is rapidly becoming a major global power,” and pledged that he would not tolerate any “attempts to encroach on American security.”
The campaign has received massive funding from the Chinese government, which has given support to the campaign via various means. On September 17, for example, the Chinese government provided the Biden presidential campaign with $2.5 million for television ads attacking China during the general election. On September 24, the Chinese government provided $100,000 “for the presidential campaign” in a program run by the China Central Television (CCTV) in order to “promote positive foreign policy and support the Democratic Party.”
The China Foundation of Hong Kong provided additional funding for the same advertisements, while the US-China Council, another think tank, provided the Chinese government with $1,000,000 in order to help Biden�