The New Appeasers

Biden’s upcoming summit with Xi Jinping risks weakening America even further.

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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen looks on as President Joe Biden speaks during a session of the G20 Leaders' Summit at the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on September 9, 2023. (Photo by Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images)

“I’ve got it.” 

Those were British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s words as he stepped off the plane at Croydon airport after his meeting with Adolf Hitler in Munich in September 1938. What he had was a piece of paper signed by Hitler saying that with the dismembering of Czechoslovakia, Germany had no more territorial ambitions in Europe. That was the signed pledge Chamberlain said represented “peace for our time.”

Chamberlain was wrong, tragically wrong. Instead of bringing peace, their summit paved the way for Hitler’s next round of aggression and the start of World War II.

The upcoming summit in San Francisco between President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, scheduled for Wednesday, won’t result in any outcome as dramatic. But this summit between the strongest Chinese premier since Mao and the weakest American president since James Buchanan, may be nearly as disastrous in terms of pushing the U.S.-China relationship further down the wrong track, one where American weakness and appeasement makes war more, not less, likely. 

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    A provocative article to say the least. I appreciate the willingness of TD to avoid the temptation to always please the audience. Unlike other commenters, I won’t make a guess as to whether the author supports Trump.

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    Spider Rico

    Well damn.

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    BrandonAlleman

    Heard it at the Dispatch first: everyone south of the equator will become China's 'coolies' due to Biden's appeasement and gas stove dithering.
    To say the least, this commentator needs some of the editorial oversight Jonah has written about recently. Please do better.

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  4. Ctwsales

    It is obvious who this writers hero is. Let's start. On XI was it biden that said "he's a great leader that loves his country very much!". Was it biden that said' we get along great he loves me.". You can legitimately criticize biden on helping Ukraine too slowly. But was it biden that tried to blackmail zelensky for military aid? I criticize biden all the time for keeping the tariffs. But it was this writers guy that put them on in the first place

    The list is long. Dispatchers know it . Editors I know you are trying to give different viewpoints but that doesn't mean an article that could be read at a trump rally. NRO has tried that and has diminished them greatly.

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    1. GK

      If your takeaway from this is that the author is a big Trump fan, you need to re-examine your own biases. Far too many commenters are stuck in a binary where criticism of Biden equates to support for Trump.

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      1. Avatar photo
        Addicus

        This isn't really about criticisms about Biden. If the author has a detailed criticism to make, then he should make it. His very first point was to bring up Nevil Chamberlin. So much for nuance.

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        1. GK

          He did make a detailed criticism of Biden’s China policy, and he did so by drawing a rough historical parallel. Respectfully, you and other commenters disagree with the article, so the response by many is to complain about the Dispatch’s editorial standards.

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      2. Ctwsales

        So trump didn't do any of those? If not I apologize.

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        1. GK

          No, you’re right, Trump did. But that has no bearing at all on the writer’s critique of Biden and his administration’s policies. This is exactly what Jonah talks about all the time: criticism of one is not an endorsement of the other

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          1. Ctwsales

            Sorry he lost me at the weakest president since Frederick Buchanan. To me that showed me HIS prejudice. Guess not you.

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  5. Token Liberal

    And here I was thinking that Republicans abandoning Ukraine to Putin were the appeasers.

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  6. Jefsut

    "tens of thousands of military-age Chinese males swarming over our border. "

    Perhaps they want to get the hell out of China and not to infiltrate our country to prepare for war?

    The low quality of this article makes me re-think my subscription.

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  7. Avatar photo
    Kurt

    How did this pap manage to pass editorial review? As soon as it gets to direct comparisons to WWII appeasement and Cold War stuff, you know the guy doesn't have a clue about what's actually going on in China. This is not an endorsement of China as good guy, or anything else; it's a statement indicating this clown doesn't have a clue about his topic, just warmed over tepid takes on conditions he does not understand.

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    Bill B

    Oi! Has has no one taught conservatives that the history of international relations did not begin and end with Neville Chamberlain?

    This "weak", "appeasing" line is getting really old. It's like a nervous tic. Does Herman keep an old dog-eared copy of Gingrich's "Language: A Key Mechanism of Control" for reference?

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  9. Hikingguy

    Reflexive Biden bashing is boring. Not impressed.

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    1. Nurules99

      Reflexive Biden support is dangerous.

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      1. Hikingguy

        Dangerous? Hells bells. It ain't Biden calling for concentration camps. Try harder.

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        1. Nurules99

          Creating strawman arguments is apparently a specialty of yours. You've done this in previous discussions.

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          1. Hikingguy

            And you just pulled that out of where Trump gets his material. Check on what Trump was calling for over the weekend. And do try to keep up. Weak, weak, tea you brew.

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  10. Avatar photo
    Addicus

    Arthur Herman declares the summit a failure before it's even started. Perhaps the American public would support a tougher stance where cheep Chinese products become more expensive? Or debt costs more? No. Because people like Arthur will be here claiming that it's all weak Biden's fault. Disappointing article.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Retired Prosecutor

      Yes, at minimum the summit has temporarily cleaned up the streets of San Francisco!

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