There's not much to be optimistic about with President Joe Biden's meeting Monday with Chinese President Xi Jinping considering Biden's emphasis on climate change and the issues the president and his national security team are facing, Fred Fleitz, the vice-chair of the America First Policy Institute Center for American Security, told Newsmax Sunday.
"This is an opportunity to improve relations and to push the agenda the United States is interested in," Fleitz, a Newsmax contributor and former chief of staff to the National Security Council, said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "But on this trip, Biden's priority has been climate change and what he has delivered to promote climate change I imagine that's going to be a primary focus of his remarks."
Further, Fleitz said that Biden is showing "evidence of increased mental decline" in his recent actions, and that won't be good for the U.S.-China relationship.
"I'm glad to see interactions between the American and Chinese officials, but I think I'd keep Biden in as short a meeting as possible with Xi and have a competent secretary of state or another senior official engaged in the negotiations," he said.
However, the administration has a problem there too, as "not only is Biden incompetent, his top national security advisers are bad also," said Fleitz. "As I've said on this program, I'd like to see Biden sack his whole national security team and bring in senior men and women with confidence and gravitas. I am not optimistic."
Fleitz said some possibilities for secretary of state would include former U.S. Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif; Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., or former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates, "someone who foreign leaders respect or would listen to. Biden needs people like that desperately."
Biden will also likely try to get the Chinese to "lean more on Russia" about the war in Ukraine, and that will be "useful," said Fleitz.
"The Chinese are increasingly uncomfortable with this war," he said. "They made a statement recently that they don't want to see nuclear weapons used in Ukraine. I think the Chinese leadership would like to see this war go away, and maybe Biden can contribute to pressuring them to do that."
However, Fleitz said he does not believe that Russia is prepared to surrender and will launch a new offensive this spring, despite its withdrawal from Kherson.
This winter, meanwhile, will be terrible, said Fleitz, as Ukraine's electric and water infrastructure are being destroyed by Russia.
Fleitz on Sunday also said he's got concerns about the state of the U.S. military and its recruiting issues.
Recruitments are down because young men and women are worried about vaccination requirements, said Fleitz, and "woke ideology" is also an issue.
"We're seeing the military being used for liberal social engineering, and you know the men and women who start to defend our country didn't sign up for that," he said.
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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