China Largely Ignores Biden’s State of the Union Speech

President Joe Biden had very little to say about China in his first State of the Union (SOTU) address on Tuesday night, and Chinese media returned the favor by saying very little about Biden’s speech.

China’s state-run Global Times counted only two mentions of China in the speech, neither of them terribly confrontational (Biden added a third in the remarks as delivered). The Chinese paper dismissed Biden’s address as a weak imitation of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s famed “Iron Curtain” speech that unsuccessfully sought to use Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to rally the divided American political parties behind Biden’s presidency.

The Global Times quoted Fudan University professor Shen Yi mocking Biden’s claims of leadership against Russia:

“If the US has been prepared for Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, why is Washington still discussing with other countries on how to sanction Russia on SWIFT? If US intelligence agencies can make correct early-warnings about Russia’s operation, but the White House failed to fully prepare for sanctions, the US’ capability and national strength are in trouble,” Shen said.

Biden said in his speech that “Our forces are not going to Europe to fight in Ukraine, but to defend our NATO Allies.” But Shen said this is another pointless line that shows Biden’s weakness. “This means the US will leave Ukraine alone even though Kiev pinned high hopes on Washington. To defend NATO? Did Russia say it wants to invade NATO?”

US President Joe Biden finally made his delayed State of the Union address local time Tuesday night, devoting a significant portion of the speech to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and mentioning China twice to boost fragile unity between the two parties. https://t.co/R4Mg6oNZpo

— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) March 2, 2022