If I were Joe Biden, I would be bothered by people using my personal image as a “nice guy” to sort of blackmailing me. See the image of a bunch of Latinos near the US-Mexico border, all wearing the T-Shirt that says: “Biden, please let us in”? It’s like saying “Come on, Biden, you are a nice guy, you are not Trump, why don’t you help us!“
Personality or personal image matter little in making international policies. It’s not that Biden hates to be a nice guy, but rather that as the president of the country, he must be responsible to the people of this country. Of course, if most people believe this country should let more immigrants in, Biden would happily do that. But the reality is more complicated as people are divided about whether we should let our doors widely open to immigrants. This means Biden has to be careful in weighing policies, quota and actions. Even more complicated, while people are divided on immigration policies, they may all use the treatment of the minors in this country to criticize the administration.
Sometimes Being A Nice Guy Does Matter
This report by Vox did a good job to show that sometimes being a nice guy does matter and cost little. I will not criticize Biden just because he has continued some or even most Trump’s foreign policies. After all, being different from the predecessor is hardly the goal best leader will try to achieve. It all depends on the contexts and challenges the leader faces.
But when it comes to vaccine and India, things are different. First of all, India faces a true emergency nationwide due to poor governance and leadership. Secondly, India is not China, meaning helping India will unlikely trigger domestic criticisms. Thirdly, the US domestic demand for vaccine has sharply declined lately, so it is unlikely to cause danger for the Americans. In other words, this is a case when both countries could win. Finally, with such a big country like India, if the US does not help control the spread of virus, it is inevitable that new variety of Covid will appear, and it will be just a matter of time for the crisis to hit the US and many other countries.
Making Sense of The US Inaction
“For weeks after it became clear that the United States would have enough vaccines to meet domestic demand, the Biden administration refused to export its excess to poorer countries. That includes stockpiles of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, which has still not been approved for use in the United States.”
Furthermore, “This policy changed in late April, after a direct phone call between Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi underscored the country’s desperate straits. But insider reporting, this time from Politico, once again suggests the White House initially overrode the relevant agencies and directly blocked vaccine exports.”
The report was pretty reasonable by saying “some degree of national partiality is to be expected in any presidency. Biden was elected by the citizens of the United States, not the world; it’s understandable that he’d give their interests priority.” On the other hand, “in the wake of Trump, who attacked the liberal international order that America helped create, Biden has a special kind of burden — recommitting the United States to creating a world where nations cooperate and care for those outside of their borders. But so far, the administration has seemed surprisingly comfortable with America First-style policies, a degree of nationalism that undermines the ‘America is back’ restoration the Biden team has promised.“
Sometimes It’s All About How To Say It
The other report also bothers me a bit, although this one is more understandable because it concerns China. Given the highly poisonous air against China these days, we can pretty much all expect criticisms, red flags and negative tones. This time the words came from Jake Sullivan, a high rank official in the Biden administration and someone I liked. More specifically and in his own words “‘We are not in the business of trading cooperation with China on climate change as a favor that Beijing is doing for the United States,’ Sullivan said during an Aspen Security Forum webinar.”
Notice the topic is climate change, pretty much the only field the two countries have expressed the willingness and need for cooperation. Yet even here, we see nothing but negativity, making me wonder if the US only has one thing in mind: beating or crushing China — sometimes in the name of “cooperation.”
Don’t get me wrong, Sullivan is still better than Pompeo, but I want to cite this nice piece from Inc. on how emotionally intelligent leaders or persons asked themselves three questions before opening their mouth:
- Does this need to be said?
- Does this need to be said by me?
- Does this need to be said by me, now?
I would add another: Does this need to be said this way by me, now?
Sometimes it is all about how to say it.
Climate change is one of the fields that cooperation is the best way out because we are all human beings living in an increasingly smaller planet. It calls for all parties to put aside our differences because none of them matters when cities sink below sea level or the air is no longer breathable.
Speaking of “favor,” we are all doing each other — as well as ourselves — a favor by working together, which is the very nature of cooperative games. When the US invited China and Russia to the global climate summit, it is doing itself, China and Russia and the whole world a favor. Similarly, when China pledged a carbon neutrality by 2060, it is doing itself, the US and the entire world a favor. It makes little sense to talk about unidirectional favor.
If the US genuinely wants to tackle the climate problem, then as a global leader it should show more appreciations to anyone making climate pledges. We really need leaders to look at the big pictures with a big heart. If Sullivan believes “‘the jury is very much out’ on whether China was willing to fully cooperate,” I would say the jury is all out for every country, because we all must wait to see who is truly committed in the end.
Feeling tired and my right arm feels heavy and my body may even have a tiny fever today. Took a long nap in the afternoon and skipped the Rugby game I was gonna watch at the Witter Rugby field. I have not had any medication since 2017 and really do not like the way it feels.