Biden Blames ‘Silly Balloon’ For China Tensions As Milley Downplays Threat

ANALYSIS – It seems Team Biden is on a campaign to soften relations with China. First, we have Joe Biden idiotically blaming the current tension on what he just called the ‘silly balloon' incident.

And then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) General Mark Milley, infamous for blaming the Capitol riot on “white rage,” is downplaying the risk of conflict with China.

This is a far cry from Ronald Reagan's tough-talking approach to dealing with the Soviet Union in the 1980s. It sounds more like Jimmy Carter. (RELATED: Gen. Milley Surrenders On Chinese Nuke Buildup – Instead, Let's ‘Bankrupt China')

Saying it's part of an effort to lower the heat, Milley has taken to telling lawmakers that war with China is “not imminent or inevitable.”

On Friday, Milley stated that everyone should lower the rhetoric on China, adding we are not on the “brink of war.”

Well, maybe we aren't “on the brink,” but we are in a Cold War with China, and there's a growing risk of it getting hot. And it's Communist China's rhetoric and, more importantly, its actions that are putting us on a collision course sooner rather than later.

Being flippant or soft-pedaling that reality doesn't help us prepare for or confront the looming threat.

Especially after decades of complacency in the face of a dramatic Chinese military expansion and economic rise and with a woefully uninformed and unprepared American citizenry.

Biden made his ‘silly balloon' statement during a news conference in Hiroshima, Japan, where he was present for talks with other G7 countries on Sunday. (RELATED: US (Or Japan) Leads G7 Democracies Against China And Russia)

A reporter asked him: “How will you manage the diplomatic relationship with China?” And Biden answered:

Well, number one, you're right. We should have an open line [of communications]. With the Bali conference that's what President Xi and I agreed that we were going to do and meet on. And then this silly balloon that was carrying two free cars worth of spy equipment was flying over the United States, and it got shut down and changed in terms of talking to one another.

As a reminder, China's ‘silly (high altitude surveillance) balloon was initially downplayed by Team Biden and allowed to fly over the entire continental United States, only being brought down by an F-22 stealth fighter off the coast of North Carolina.

The balloon was able to intercept and transmit valuable signals intelligence (SIGINT) from numerous strategic American military sites, including nuclear missile bases. (RELATED: Biden Meek as Downed Chinese ‘Spy Balloon' Unmasks Vast Global Surveillance Fleet)

It should more correctly be called the ‘Biden balloon fiasco.'

While tensions have spiked after the incident, neither that isolated, and provocative, event nor American overheated rhetoric are the reasons we are moving toward conflict with China.

China's expansion and aggression in the South China Sea and its own overheated rhetoric and invasion drills against Taiwan are the primary causes. It ramped up its aggression after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island in August 2022.

China repeated the same actions again earlier this year when Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen traveled to the U.S. and met with current House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. In both cases, China deployed massive air and naval forces and surrounded Taiwan with live-fire exercises to simulate a multi-pronged invasion.

China's stated goal to conquer Taiwan is a real threat. And Milley admits as much. He simply downplays it by saying it will be very difficult to accomplish and we have three or four years to deal with that.

As Defense One reports:

[China's leader] Xi [Jinping] has said he wants the People's Liberation Army armed and ready to take Taiwan by force, if necessary, by 2027. “So if you think about it, that's only four years away,” Milley said. “So, one of the elements of deterrence is to make sure that your opponent knows that the cost exceeds the benefit. So, for Taiwan, we've—my guess is we've got three or four years to get Taiwan in a position where they will create the perception in the minds of the Chinese decision makers that the cost exceeds that.”  

The outlet adds:

Instead of how the China threat is discussed today, he [Milley] said, “I'd prefer to go back to what Teddy Roosevelt said, which is, you know, ‘speak softly, carry a big stick' sort of thing. So: Have our military really, really strong [and] lower the rhetoric a little bit with the temperature.”

But maybe Milley should learn from Reagan instead of Jimmy Carter.

Even as he rapidly rebuilt our military and deployed new medium-range nukes to NATO, Reagan also raised the temperature with the USSR, calling it an evil empire and saying communism would end up in the trash heap of history.

Reagan made things very clear. And it worked without a shot being fired. That's how you win a Cold War.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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