美国总统拜登对中国国家主席习近平未能出席在印度举行的20国集团领导人峰会（9月9日及10日）表示失望，成为西方媒体近日的焦点。我们可以预期，这新闻将继续与拜登有关他将会见习近平的评论一起占据媒体头条。显然，两国领导人的下一次会面机会是11月在旧金山举行的亚太经合组织（APEC）峰会。
习主席尚未对拜登的公开声明做出回应。不过，中国国家安全部在官方微信上发文称，“要真正实现‘从峇厘岛到旧金山’，美国需要表现出足够的诚意”，从中可以看出中国的立场。所谓的“从峇里岛到旧金山”，指的是去年11月拜登和习近平在峇里岛G20峰会期间的最后一次会面。
中国国家安全部指出，拜登政府对华采取“新两手”战略，竞争加管控竞争。文章指，近期访华的美国官员虽然表示无意遏制中国发展或“脱钩”，但同时又批准对台军售和军事融资，挑起西藏和南海问题，并公开批评及试图破坏中国经济。
中国国家安全部表示，中国绝不会因为美国的几句“漂亮话”而放松警惕……美国的种种阻挠、围堵和打压，只会让中国愈战愈勇，更加自立自强。”
实际上，拜登自就任总统以来，美国就一直在打压中国和习近平。
拜登以及其他美国总统候选人和政治领袖对中国展开攻击是显而易见的。拜登打压中国的首要原因是为即将到来的总统选举筹集竞选资金，届时他可能会与特朗普对峙。
因此，在最近在犹他州帕克城举行的寻求连任筹款活动中，拜登告诉捐助者，中国政府是由“坏人”主导的，他们可能会在经济处于崩溃边缘时采取危险行动。 在阐述这一论点时，他声称中国政府陷入了“麻烦”，因为中国经济问题是一颗“定时炸弹”。拜登说：“他们（中国）遇到了一些问题。这不是好事，因为当坏人遇到问题时，他们就会做坏事。”
一些人士分析，拜登在上述活动上，试图通过公然的谎言来支持自己的论述，声称中国“失业率最高”，退休年龄的人口多于工作年龄的人口。拜登还声称中国经济增速已放缓至2%。
更激烈反华言行
事实上，今年上半年中国的国内生产总值（GDP）增长了5.5%，而美国的增长率约为2.2%。中国的工作年龄人口是60岁及以上人口的三倍多。根据国际货币基金组织的数据，中国的失业率为4.1%，而美国为3.8%，英国为4.2%。
拜登试图粉饰自己的私下言论，声称他希望与中国建立“理性关系”，并补充说，“我无意伤害中国，但我在观察（中方举动）。”但世界可以预见拜登在大选前会出现更激烈的反华言论和举动。
拜登总统和他的团队在今年第二季度筹集了超过7200万美元（3.36兆令吉）。拜登竞选团队的手头现金总额已高达7700万美元（3.6兆令吉）。拜登竞选活动筹获的款项比共和党的对手前总统特朗普和佛罗里达州州长德桑蒂斯多出3000万美元（1.4兆令吉）。
拜登在犹他州筹款活动中，至少要捐赠3300美元（1.5万令吉）才能入场。主办方则会支付10万美元（约46万令吉），捐款至少5万美元者（约23.4万令吉），可以与拜登交流并合影。那些捐款1万至2万5000美元者（4.6万至11.6万令吉），也可与总统合影。
金钱是赢得美国选举和政治权力的关键。这是美国每一场选举的命脉。这些竞选资金将用于购买媒体广告、雇用员工、资助行程和选举宣传，并支付活动和其他项目的费用，以接触锁定的选民群体。
因此，候选人花多少钱不仅决定了其竞选活动，也是决定选举结果的一个关键因素。
人们不应该感到惊讶的是，拜登在争取选举资金时将强调他对民主、自由、人权和基于国际规则的秩序之承诺，同时也会对中国怀有敌意。目前来看，美国与中国的竞争呈现出全方位、多层次的特点。预计更多经济、贸易、金融等领域的意识形态竞争，将以“综合威慑”的名义纳入美国战略。
中国人民大学重阳金融研究院发布的报告显示，今年2月至5月，美国在经济、贸易、金融、意识形态、军事技术、科技和地缘政治等领域，对中国进行了24项打压行动。
所谓，行动胜于雄辩，如果习主席决定缺席11月于旧金山举行的亚太峰会以及拜登的会面，也就不足为奇了。
林德宜《拜登对中国的伪善》原文：US President Biden: Hypocrite Extraordinary on China
News that US President Biden has expressed regret that China President Xi is not attending the G20 coming meeting in India has been given prominence in western media recently. We can expect this news item to continue hogging the media headlines together with Biden’s comment that he was going to "get to see him". Apparently the next opportunity for the two leaders to meet will be the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco in November.
President Xi has not responded to Biden’s public statement. A clue to China’s position is the post from China’s Ministry of State Security on its WeChat social media page that "To truly realise 'from Bali to San Francisco', the United States needs to show enough sincerity". This reference was to the last meeting between Biden and Xi on the sidelines of a G20 summit on Bali in November last year.
The Ministry noted that Biden's administration has adopted a 2 prong strategy towards China, inviting competition with China but also wanting to control the competition.
It said while U.S. officials who visited China recently said there was no intention to curb China's development or "decouple" but at the same time the U.S. approved arms sales and military financing to Taiwan, and raised issues about Tibet and the South China Sea as well as openly criticised and tried to undermine the Chinese economy.
The Ministry concluded that China will never let its guard down because of a few 'nice words' from the United States …. The various obstacles, containment and suppression by the United States will only make China more courageous and self-reliant".
Biden’s Objective in Talking Down China and Xi
Ever since he became president, Biden has been engaged in a campaign to run down China and Xi.
Why Biden - and other US presidential candidates and political leaders - engage in China bashing is obvious. Top among the reasons for Biden’s public positioning on China is to raise funds for the coming presidential election when he is likely to face off against Trump.
Thus during one of his recent re-election fundraising eventin Park City, Utah, Biden told donors that China’s government is run by “bad folks” who may take dangerous actions as their economy is on the brink of collapse. Elaborating on this, he claimed that the Chinese government was in “trouble” because Beijing’s economic problems were a “ticking time bomb”. “They got some problems. That’s not good because when bad folks have problems, they do bad things.”
Analysts of the event have noted that Biden tried to back up his speech by engaging in outright lies which claimed that China had the “highest unemployment rate going” and more people of retirement age than of working age. Biden also claimed that China’s economic growth has slowed to 2%.
In fact,China’s GDP rose at a 5.5% pace in this year’s first half, compared with the US rate of around 2.2%. The country has more than three times more people of working age as compared with people 60 and older. According to IMF data, China’s unemployment rate stands at 4.1 compared with the US’s 3.8 and U.K’s 4.2.
Biden has tried to sugarcoat his privately made comments by claiming that he wants to have a“rational relationship”with China, adding, “I don’t want to hurt China, but I’m watching.” But the world can expect more fierce anti-China rhetoric and action from Biden ahead of the election.
US 2024 Presidential Campaign Fund Rising Scoreborad
President Joe Biden and his team finished the second quarter raising more than $72 million.
Biden’s reelection entities have $77 million total cash on hand. Biden outraised the rival Republican campaigns of former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by more than $30 million each.
For his Utah fundraiser donors paid at least $3,300 to attend. Hosts paid $100,000, and guests who contributed at least $50,000 were allowed to speak with Biden and have a picture taken with him. Those paying $10,000 to $25,000 could get a photo with the president.
Money holds the key to winning American elections and political power. It is the lifeblood of every U.S. political campaign. It buys media ads, hires staff, finances travel and election propaganda, and pays for events and other activities to reach targeted voting blocs.
How much money a candidate spends not only determines the longevity of his or her campaign. It is also a key factor in its outcome.
One should not be surprised that Biden in his drive for election funding will be stressing his commitment to democracy, freedom, human rights and the international rules based order whilst at the same time engaging in hostility towards China. For now we can see US competition with China take on a comprehensive and multi-level feature. More ideological based factors can be expected in economy, trade and finance to be incorporated in US strategy in the name of "comprehensive deterrence”.
According to a report released by the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, since February through May this year, the US has engaged in 24 moves to suppress China in the spheres including economy, trade, finance, ideology, military science and technology, and geopolitics.
As actions speak louder than words, it will not be surprising if President Xi decides to give San Francisco and meeting Biden a miss.
