This week, I wanted to discuss the topical relations between the United States and the Beijing Chinese Government. For some historical context, the U.S. has operated under a "one-China policy" since 1979, and has repeatedly failed to recognize Taiwan as an independent nation. Biden has however reiterated many times that the United States would defend Taiwan in the event of an unprovoked attack from mainland China. However, an article from France24 titled "No 'new Cold War' with China, Biden tells G20 after meeting with Xi" states that Biden said he did not believe there were "imminent" plans to invade Taiwan. This comes with a new condition as Biden stated the question of how Taiwan shapes their independence is up to them. This opens new doors for Taiwan, as Taipei would be open to operate independently from China. This can be dangerous as well since the Taipei government could potentially 'warrant' and invasion from Beijing. 
The article looks very different from Chinese or American media. Last post, I covered Chinese media and their overt animosity towards the United States. The United States are just as guilty of inflammatory rhetoric towards the CCP, so it is sincerely difficult to find objective, non-biased coverage of large international conflict and competition. France24 does a good job of remaining impartial in international affairs as France is not economically dependent on China or the U.S. Feeling like for once, I have found an article that helps me feel optimistic about the China situation. The removal of inflammatory language makes an objective, bland article look optimistic in contrast to our media. While the differences regarding Taiwan are recognized on both sides, tensions have seemed to wane after the recent talks, and I will be looking back at France24 for more updates.
Signing off,
Jake Hughes
Hi Jake! Really interesting stuff here. I have never read any French media myself, so I am very interested to hear that they took such a refreshingly neutral perspective on US-China relations. I would be curious to see how France24 covers other topics; do they tend to overall use less inflammatory language than the American media, or is this just the case in this topic because France is a neutral party?
ReplyDeleteI hope France 24 is right. Thank you for actually providing me with an unbiased source to look at!
ReplyDeleteHey Jake,
ReplyDeleteAs always it is very interesting to get a look at issues pertaining to the U.S. from an international media source. As foreign news articles generally tend to be more unbiased, when discussing international relations, it is always useful to look at them during times of great contention. This article by France 24 is no different, and their outlook on the U.S.-China situation pretty relieving, considering the tension that persitted earlier this year concerning the Taiwan issue. That being said, it is worth mentioning that France, as being a member of NATO, would likely still hold a bias towards both the U.S. and and Taiwan in this situation. As such, it would be very interesting to see the perspective of a non-NATO, non-U.S. aligned country in this scenario.
Hi Jake,
ReplyDeleteI bet looking at news sources from outside the United States is refreshing. I had not heard of this issue before so I thank you for informing all of us. I am glad to hear of no major advancements yet as well as communication between leader for preparations just in case. I might have to go check out France24 to learn more about this!
I think it is always interesting to see news focusing on the U.S. from a news source that is not from the U.S. There is no bias, at least it seems there are none, toward the U.S. or China, which I was sort of surprised with, as I would have thought a French news outlet would show a little bias toward the U.S. but there seemed to be none. I think that is definitely a seller for me on if I can trust a news source, if they show any bias or not, which I always favor news outlets that show no bias and just report truthfully. Great post!
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