Chinese Military Leaders Visit the Pentagon While Tawain Takes a Stand

President Biden has successfully re-established communication between U.S. and Chinese military leaders at APEC in November when he met with President Xi. This week, Pentagon leaders met with ranking members of China’s Central Military Commission. Efforts largely continue to focus on maintaining military-to-military communication to avoid events that could accidentally trigger war. It was the first visit since COVID.

The Democratic Progressive Party (“DPP”) won the Taiwanese election. Their third consecutive win is a triumph for democratic values and America. Voters favored the DPP’s hardline stance against China (~40% vote-share) over the pro-China KMT (~33%). Xi reaffirmed China’s goal to retake Taiwan under the One-China policy ahead of the election. Given KMT argued that the DPP’s method risks provoking war, voters made their willingness to resistance against One China clear. Taiwan is willing to fight an invasion and China should not miscalculate the resistance they will face, like was done in Ukraine.

Chinese economic exports and the expansion of BRICS demonstrate China’s growing economic influence. China is aspiring to elevate their industrial manufacturing, specifically in electric vehicles and battery technologies. Their impressive growth to more than five million auto exports made them the world’s top exporter in 2023, surpassing Japan. The U.S. is considering ways to counter China’s flooding of markets. China and its allies had expanded BRICS membership to Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in 2023. The group now controls more than a third of world GDP and continues to increase its influence in an attempt to fight the dollarized global economy.

China and the U.S. continue to back rival parties in ongoing conflicts. China has taken a more laisse-affair approach to Russia, calling for an immediate ceasefire at current post-war borders. However, China has taken a hardline stance against Israel.

China’s close economic ties to Iran have given the nation a level of immunity to the ongoing shipping crisis in the Red Sea. Ships have been boasting Chinese affiliation for safety, a role one may have thought was fit for United States affiliation.