President Joe Biden faces renewed policy pressure as two of the biggest issues from the early days of his term, China and the coronavirus, reemerge in the headlines.
A deadline to release information related to the origins of COVID-19 came and went Sunday with no action from the White House. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken got a lukewarm reception during his trip to Beijing.
BIDEN'S CLIMATE AGENDA DREAMS COLLIDE WITH MILITARY REALITIES
Blinken embarked on a trip last weekend that had been delayed since February owing to the Chinese spy balloon incident but ended up meeting with President Xi Jinping for just 35 minutes. Blinken nonetheless tried to emphasize the trip as a way to help build stronger relations between the two nations.
“China’s broad economic success is also in our interest. We have done a remarkable job rebounding from COVID and having a growing economy — very low unemployment, tremendous investments in our future,” Blinken said in Beijing. “But we also benefit tremendously when there is growth and progress in other countries — especially of one of the world’s largest economies when it comes to China."
Though the secretary of state mentioned COVID-19 in the context of its economic effect, he did not mention the origins of the virus at all.
Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) suggested Biden's missing the origins deadline was tied to Blinken's visit, which began the same day as the declassification deadline.
"The White House is now overdue to declassify their COVID lab leak intel, and there is no ‘Secretary of State is meeting with Xi Jinping’ exception in the law President Biden signed,” Braun said. “We need to know the truth about how this pandemic started and China’s role in covering it up, and the White House must respect the text of the law passed unanimously in both chambers by the people’s representatives.”
Congress unanimously passed the COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023 in March, and Biden said he was pleased to sign it and shared its goals of releasing as much information as possible about the origins of the virus, which has killed more than 6.9 million people worldwide.
The law instructed Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines to “declassify any and all information relating to potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origin” of COVID-19, including intelligence on the “activities performed by the Wuhan Institute of Virology with or on behalf of the People's Liberation Army” and “coronavirus research or other related activities performed at the Wuhan Institute of Virology prior to the outbreak” of SARS-CoV-2.
The bill gave the Biden administration 90 days to declassify the intelligence, a deadline that lapsed Sunday night. The White House did not respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
While the development has generated relatively little news coverage, Rutgers University's Richard Ebright said it represents a major oversight.
"It is dismaying that a sitting president of the United States breaks the law, violates the oath of office, and shows contempt for the public on a matter of national importance, and, thus far, suffers no consequences for doing so," Ebright, a chemical biology professor, said. "If not corrected immediately and in full, impeachment indeed would be proper course of action."
Biden did later make disparaging remarks about China, though not in relation to the virus. The president implied Xi was unaware the spy balloon shot down after flying over the United States had drifted into North America and described him as a dictator in the process.
Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry, responded to the comment by saying, “It is a blatant political provocation. China expresses strong dissatisfaction and opposition. … The U.S. remarks are extremely absurd and irresponsible."
China also refused to establish a crisis communications channel with U.S. military officials despite Blinken's visit, though Xi did describe the encounter as being "very good" overall.
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Blinken's visit and the complications since have Biden's Republican critics again bashing his foreign policy.
"It’s clear that the Biden administration got nothing in return for continuing to give the CCP a pass," reads a blast from Republican National Committee spokesman Tommy Pigott. "A military channel of communication? Rejected. The release of wrongfully detained Americans held by the CCP? Nope. Accountability on TikTok or the spy balloon? Definitely not... Weakness is the policy of the Biden administration, and it’s emboldening Communists while putting the American people in danger."