US Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled his planned weekend flight to Beijing at the last minute following the discovery of a Chinese surveillance balloon over US territory that was shot down off the east coast on Sunday. Republicans have criticized President Joe Biden for delaying the shootdown order, but the Pentagon advised it would be safer to wait until the balloon was over the water.
"The cancellation of Blinken's travel to Beijing has shown the world that Washington is currently incapable of conducting a productive dialogue with Beijing," Freeman, who was President Richard Nixon's interpreter during his first visit to China in 1972, said. "It has made it clear that the Biden administration is too weak to stand up to partisan criticism in a deeply polarized American society."
The world, he added, wants the United States to develop a cooperative relationship with China but has just witnessed the Biden administration's inability to rise to this challenge.
Commenting on the surveillance balloon incident, Freeman said it is more likely a "snafu" than a deliberate act by China.
"The hysterical US reaction to it is a barometer of mutual distrust, not empirically grounded," Freeman added.
Freeman also said that Blinken's proposed visit was preceded by US tightening of the screws in the technology war and the conclusion of new basing agreements in the Philippines directed at China.
The former senior US diplomat said Blinken did not indicate any interest in addressing China's agenda, adjusting US policy in any way, or advancing bilateral cooperation. And, like the previous round of talks in Anchorage, seemed determined to demonstrate that "the Biden administration can be as tough on China as its predecessor," Freeman said.
The US government claims the balloon was being used for intelligence-gathering while Beijing says it was a civilian airship engaged in meteorological research and expressed regret over its unintended entry into US airspace. On Monday, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng criticized the US downing of the airship as harmful for US-Chinese relations.
On Monday, the State Department said the US expects to keep in touch with Chinese counterparts and will then determine when its appropriate for Blinken to travel to China while the White House said there is no reason for tensions between the United States and China to devolve into conflict.