Opinion | If war breaks out over Taiwan, Joe Biden’s lack of leadership will be to blame
- The US president has shown a worrying lack of authority when dealing with scrapping trade tariffs on China, securing an increase in oil output and Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan
- On his watch, the danger of war between the US and China looms much larger
Years ago, as a regional head of Asia for an American multinational based in Atlanta, Georgia, I was schmoozing with the visiting vice-president, international, over afternoon drinks on the Bund in Shanghai when he said of the company’s CEO, “Decisiveness is a key part of leadership, and Paul knows his stuff.”
The context was that most people in the company had thought Paul was an incredibly charming man until shivers were sent down their spines by the news that the COO, who had been Paul’s right-hand man from the time they started the company, had suddenly been removed for no obvious reason.
A veteran investment banker was announced as the new COO and, two years later, the company’s share price had more than doubled, although net profit was up by less than 25 per cent – Wall Street became more bullish about the company simply because of the new CEO/COO ticket. The vice-president added, “Paul doesn’t run a company like this by being Mr Nice!”
Unfortunately for the world, US President Joe Biden seems to be running a country like America by being Mr Nice – which is amply shown in his handling of international relations.
Yet, the Biden administration still has not scrapped the tariffs imposed on US$350 billion of Chinese imports, mainly due to persistent resistance from US Trade Representative Katherine Tai.
