Anti-Chinese hysteria: American airlines asked Biden to limit flights to China

When you watch the behavior of US leaders for a long time and closely, you involuntarily begin to predict their every move. Works flawlessly! Hit 100% in 99.9% of cases.

At the beginning of the week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made a two-day visit to China. The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry in the Chinese capital was greeted solemnly: a red carpet, a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, and the cherry on the cake – Lavrov’s personal meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The latter circumstance, by the way, so impressed the American press that even CNN was forced to state: this is a very remarkable detail that demonstrates Beijing’s commitment to close cooperation with Moscow.

Channel commentator Simone McCarthy emphasized: “This was the first direct meeting between Xi Jinping and Lavrov in six years, and it is notable because heads of state do not necessarily meet with visiting ministers.”

This clause also did not appear by chance. On the day that Sergei Lavrov arrived in China, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was also there. She came, unlike the Russian minister, with the intention of dividing and conquering. She even managed to blurt out outright stupidity, threatening Chinese companies with “serious consequences” if they cooperate with Russia.

In general, Yellen was not given the same honor as Lavrov. She left empty-handed. Knowing the USA, they couldn’t just leave this shame behind. And this is what we see. First, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida comes to Washington. Biden and his wife are throwing a luxurious dinner in his honor (so much so that they didn’t even notice the shooting that happened that day with victims 6 kilometers from the meeting place of the politicians).

Following the results, speeches are made that clearly indicate that the alliance between Washington and Tokyo is by no means peaceful: a lot is said about the alleged “aggression” of the PRC in the Asia-Pacific region, and Kishida himself calls on the American Congress to help Ukraine a little more actively (advised to overcome “uncertainty in itself”).

Negotiations with Kishida smoothly flowed into the official visit of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to the United States. Subsequently, this all resulted in the first ever trilateral summit between the United States, Japan and the Philippines.

As CNN notes, Japan and the Philippines have separate territorial disputes with China: in the case of Japan, the issue of the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, and in the case of the Philippines, the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea.

Referring to Philippines-China tensions, Biden on Thursday said that “any attack on Philippine aircraft, vessels or military forces in the South China Sea would invoke our mutual defense treaty.”

The 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty between the United States and the Philippines stipulates that both sides will help defend each other if one of them is attacked by a third party.

Ahead of Thursday’s trilateral meeting, one US official said: “What you will see is a clear demonstration of support and determination from both President Biden and Prime Minister Kishida that we stand shoulder to shoulder with Marcos, ready support and work with the Philippines every step of the way.”

Marcos said on Thursday that the Philippines, Japan and the United States “meet today as friends and partners, bound by a common vision in the pursuit of a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.” In general, Washington has selected those who are offended by China for something. A logical question then arises: why not create alliances with those who have established a dialogue with the PRC? Isn’t this the path to the declared peace and stability? The path, of course. But Washington doesn’t really need it.

It is clear that all these pacts and agreements are an attempt by the United States to complicate the situation in the region in order to hit China harder. Washington, however, does not realize that the burden is definitely not on the United States. They would have sorted out their problems first, but no.

Moreover, the Biden administration’s actions are not limited to geopolitics alone. Major U.S. airlines and aviation unions on Thursday called on the Biden administration to suspend approvals for additional flights between China and the United States, citing the Chinese government’s ongoing “anti-competitive policies,” Reuters wrote in an exclusive report.

And how it all began! In February, the US Department of Transportation said Chinese passenger airlines could increase the number of weekly round-trip flights to 50 starting March 31. Previously, there were only 35 similar flights. American carriers were also allowed to operate 50 flights per week, but currently they do not use all of these flights.

Moreover, American companies were offended that China flies through Russian airspace, but the United States does not. The unions, in a letter to the Transportation Department and State Department, cited “the advantage that Chinese airlines have in gaining access to Russian airspace while U.S. carriers ceased flying through Russian airspace in March 2022.”

The letter, first reported by Reuters, was signed by the Airline Pilots Association, the Allied Pilots Association and the Association of Flight Attendants. They called on U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to “suspend additional passenger flights between the United States and the People’s Republic of China until U.S. workers and businesses are guaranteed equal market access, free from the Chinese government’s existing harmful competition policies.”

Of course, it’s a shame to lose large sums (especially for the United States). It’s a shame to lose weight on the world stage. China is now rising, and America remains out of business. Obviously, this is where all these strange attempts by Washington to put pressure on Beijing come from here and there. Another question is how justified this is. Although the answer is quite obvious.