Russia and China to meet on Wednesday; 'They're up to no good,' expert says

WASHINGTON (TND) — The Pentagon is working with Taiwan's military to develop defensive technology as to protect them against an attack from China, according to reports.

Ely Ratner, the assistant secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, said before Congress last week that issues with China don’t have a particular timeline.

“The China challenge is a today problem, a tomorrow problem, a 2027 problem, a 2030 problem, a 2040 problem and beyond. I don’t think there is a date we out to pick on the calendar,” Ratner said.

But author of “The Great U.S.-China Tech War” Gordon Chang says the main problem right now is that “Beijing does not believe the Biden administration.”

“I think the problem is just a lack of resolution on the part of the White House to actually mean what they say,” Chang said to The National Desk’s Jan Jeffcoat.

Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin are set to meet virtually Wednesday, as Russia is reportedly amassing troops at the Ukraine border.

“Once you have a problem in one part of the world, all of the other parts of the world are going to explode because you then have Russia, China, North Korea, Pakistan, Iran, Algeria, taking advantage of the situation or actually working in direct coordination,” said Chang. “If we show this indecision, which has been the hallmark of the Biden administration, then something is going to go wrong.”

Chang believes Jinping and Putin will discuss “how they can test Biden.”

“We know that they're up to no good because they have, over the course of decades, been coordinating their foreign policy, and they've also been coordinating their militaries,” said Chang.

The White House announced a diplomatic boycott of the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, citing “egregious human rights abuses.” A spokesperson from China’s Foreign Ministry said last week that the largely symbolic boycott “undermined the foundation and atmosphere for China-U.S. sports exchanges and Olympic cooperation.”

Chang said that “no athlete is safe” in traveling to China for the Olympic Winter Games.

“The concern should be the safety of the athletes and I think the International Olympic Committee should move the games,” said Chang. “A diplomatic boycott is a symbolic move. It's really enraged the Chinese but we need to do more because we got to remember that China is committing genocide and other crimes against humanity.”