Over the past two weeks Emanuel, who served as White House chief of staff to former President Barack Obama, has criticized Xi directly and sarcastically speculated about the Chinese leader’s treatment of his top aides, using the hashtag “#MysteryInBeijingBuilding.”

A longtime, outspoken Democratic operative, Emanuel served in Congress and left the chief of staff job in 2010 to mount a successful campaign for mayor of Chicago.

But for months the White House has sought to engage China and get relations in a more stable position since they hit a nadir in February after the Pentagon shot down a Chinese spy balloon that had traveled over the U.S.

Emanuel’s most recent disparaging post about China came just as Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, was set to secretly meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi for two days of talks in Malta.

Sullivan’s discussions are seen as laying the groundwork for a meeting between Biden and Xi, possibly in November around the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, summit in San Francisco.

Emanuel’s last post about Xi likened the disappearance of Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu to the Shakespearean play “Hamlet”: “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark,” he wrote Thursday.

The original article contains 1,022 words, the summary contains 200 words. Saved 80%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] ClumZy@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

Absolutely based on all levels.

[–] CollisionResistance@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

When the stir-shit-upper, stirs too much shit 🤣🤣

[–] MossyFeathers@pawb.social 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

US Government: "Please stop taunting china, we're trying to be friends."

China: "America dumb. America stupid. Maui wildfires were US conspiracy. America started COVID. America did this. America did that."

US Government: "Please stop making fun of China. I'm sure they'll be great friends with us if you can just stop."

This is an abusive relationship and please somebody stage an intervention. We desperately need one.

Edit: yes I know this article is specifically talking about Taiwan, but China is in an abusive relationship with everyone.

[–] Ooops@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

But there's more about this. It's the ambassador to Japan. And they may also not be friends but have to somewhat live with both being in the pacific area. So insulting China from a position in Japan is indeed questionable.

What would you say if the French ambassador to the US would be constantly in US media stirring shit up between Mexico and the US by insulting them. It's just bad taste in such a position when your own country is on the other side of the world basically.

[–] MossyFeathers@pawb.social 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

As long as they stuck to things that were factually correct (or at most, exaggerated for effect) I'd probably find it either amusing or frustrating; but the frustration generally wouldn't be targeted at France, it'd be targeted at my own government for being shitty.

I think you're expecting more patriotism from me and a stronger love for my government than I possess. I know the US government is shitty and I have very little love for it.

Edit: I think it's fairly safe to say most Americans range from having a mild dislike to a seething hatred for the US government (it seems like moderates are the least angry, but even they don't like the US government very much anymore). Most agree that the US is fucked, but the fix would be so painful and disruptive, not just to the US but to the world as a whole, that most just bite their tongues and keep their heads down.