Rep. Issa says Biden’s China strategy filled with ‘weakness, concessions and PR coups for Beijing’
House Republicans are demanding answers after a top official who recently traveled to China on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre abruptly canceled a congressional subcommittee hearing ahead of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to Beijing this week.
Daniel Kritenbrink, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, raised eyebrows after he traveled to Beijing on June 4, which also marked the 34th anniversary of the Chinese military slaughtering hundreds, possibly thousands, of pro-democracy protesters.
The trip was slammed by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, as handing a “major coup” to Chinese President Xi Jinping while weakening the United States’ position on the world stage.
Republicans are speaking out again after Kritenbrink was scheduled to testify Wednesday morning at an annual budget meeting for the State Department’s East Asia and the Pacific Affairs, but it was canceled without someone being sent in Kritenbrink’s place.
“This is them going radio silent because they don’t want to talk about it,” Issa’s spokesman, Jonathan Wilcox, told Fox News Digital. “There’s no reschedule date.”
Issa said the Biden administration is allowing the Chinese government to take advantage of the U.S.
“At every turn, Biden has met Chinese challenge not with strength and certitude, but with weakness, concessions and PR coups for Beijing,” the congressman told Fox News Digital. “China will only pocket every surrender from this White House and demand more because they know they’ll get it.”