SHANGHAI (CU)_As the rest of the world continues to battle with the COVID-19 pandemic, China, which has reported a minimal of infections for months now, is forging ahead, reviving its economy and pursuing its geopolitical goals.
One thing which has enabled Beijing to do so is the ongoing chaos in Washington, DC, amidst the United States Presidential transition. The long delay between the election – in November — and the inauguration — in January — has created a potential for disorder and this was exasperated by President Donald Trump’s refusal to accept defeat.
And on Wednesday afternoon, hundreds of pro-Trump demonstrators pushed through the barriers of the Capitol in full riot gear, in an attempt to halt the counting of the electoral college votes.
With talks of an attempted coop dominating conversation, Washington does not appear to be paying attention to actions beyond the US.
In the meantime, Beijing is pressing ahead, launching a major crackdown in Hong Kong and striking a crucial investment deal with the European Union.
Although President Donald Trump’s secretary of state Mike Pompeo as well as President-elect Joe Biden have criticised the arrests of dozens of activists and lawmakers in Hong Kong, their voices seem to have been wiped out by President Trump’s lamentations about his election defeat.
Moreover, although one of Biden’s top advisers urged Brussels to delay the signing of the deal with Beijing, the communist regime offered concessions to get it secured sooner. Both recent actions by Beijing suggests that China is keen to take advantage of the current chaos in Washington.
During much of his four-year term, President Trump veered between criticising and embracing Beijing and then finally taking a hard line against China in his last year in office, with Pompeo attempting to rally an anti-China coalition around the world. However, his efforts turned out to be futile, since a handful of countries, notably Australia, were eager to get on board, although Canberra may be rethinking its decision as its now dealing with major blowbacks from the communist superpower.
Beijing wields much of its influence from the Belt and Road mega infrastructure initiative, through which the superpower attempts to shape politics in Australia, Taiwan and across Asia, as well as the rest of the world. This approach has also been fuelled by the chaos and political division in Washington, as well as the United States’ failure to successfully respond to the Coronavirus.
This is quite apparent in China’s preparations to roll out its own homegrown vaccine, with promises to export hundreds of millions of doses overseas, especially to the developing world.
Meanwhile, China’s propagandists have begun using the violence seen in Washington on Wednesday to validate their own authoritarian system of governance.
Following the riots in the US Capitol, China’s nationalistic state media outlet, the Global Times, ran the headline “Chinese netizens jeer riot in US Capitol as ‘Karma,’ say bubbles of ‘democracy and freedom’ have burst.”
In the report, the communist regime accused the US of having “double standards”, and mocked the crackdown as the first “political coup” taking place in the American continent “without the involvement of US embassies”.
As Beijing marks the centennial of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party this year, China has promised to celebrate the anniversary by achieving a “moderately prosperous” society. However, Chinese President Xi Jinping appears to be in position to go beyond a “moderately prosperous society”, and achieve his international objectives such as redoubling Beijing’s control over the South China Sea, or forcing a showdown over the democratic island of Taiwan.
Although President-elect Joe Biden is likely to reset the United States’ relations with China, however, with two weeks left until Biden takes office, it is yet to be seen if the political division and ongoing chaos in Washington would encourage Beijing to strive for its long-sought goals.
