Webinar | The Biden Doctrine: No Worse Friend, No Better Enemy

Does Not Supporting Taiwan’s Independence Invite CCP Aggression?

Joe Biden has stood on its head a proud moniker of American warriors: He epitomizes no better enemy and no worse friend.

That deplorable distinction has been earned by, among other things: his surrender of Afghanistan; his greenlighting of a “minor Russian incursion” into Ukraine; his appeasement of Iran and undermining of Israel; and his months-long refusal to retaliate decisively for Iranian proxies’ attacks on U.S. personnel.

Most recently, right after the Taiwanese electorate voted for freedom over enslavement by Communist China, Biden announced, that the United States “does not support [Taiwan’s] independence.” Clearly, that comment rejects the de facto status quo. The question is: What will be the upshot of this latest example of the Biden Doctrine of treating enemies better than friends?

In particular, this CPDC webinar examines whether Xi Jinping is being encouraged to engage in the sort of aggression towards Taiwan – and perhaps other targets in the Western Pacific and beyond – that his proxies have pursued to date elsewhere. It also considers the broader prospect that Biden’s Doctrine will dangerously result in many more, and greatly emboldened, American foes and far fewer and less reliable allies.

Moderator:

- Frank Gaffney, Founder and Executive Chairman, Center for Security Policy; Vice Chairman, Committee on the Present Danger: China, co-author, “The Indictment: Prosecuting the Chinese Communist Party and Friends for Crimes Against America, China, and the World”

Panelists:

- Hon./Amb./Dr. Robert Joseph, PhD, Former Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security; former U.S. Special Envoy for Nuclear Nonproliferation; former Senior Director for Proliferation Strategy, Counterproliferation and Homeland Defense, National Security Council; Senior Scholar at the National Institute for Public Policy – Topic: “The Biden Doctrine vs. Other Presidents’ Treating Enemies Worse than Friends”

- Dr. Bradley Thayer, PhD, Co-Author, “Embarcing Communist China: America’s Greatest Strategic Failure” and “Understanding the China Threat”; Member, Committee on the Present Danger: China; Senior Fellow, Center for Security Policy – Topic: “The History of the U.S.-Taiwan-CCP Triangle – and Where We Must Go from Here”

- Col. Grant Newsham, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.), Author, “When China Attacks”; former Military Attache in Embassy Tokyo; former Foreign Service Officer; longtime business executive in the Western Pacific; Senior Fellow, Center for Security Policy – Topic: “What Does Biden’s Statement that ‘We Don’t Support [Taiwan’s] Independence’ Mean in Practice – and How is It Likely to be Seen by Both the CCP and Taiwan – and Others Allied with Us in the Western Pacific (and Beyond)?”

- Brian T. Kennedy, Chairman, Committee on the Present Danger: China; President, American Strategy Group; former President, Claremont Institute; author, “Communist China’s War Inside America” – Topic: “The Metastasizing CCP Threat, the U.S. War-Footing Imperative and the Next Critical 2024 Election Here”