On September 10, Beijing time, Xi Jinping had a phone conversation with US President Biden. The two sides discussed issues such as economy, peace in the Indo-Pacific region, climate, human rights, and virus traceability. According to the White House, “this is not a call intended to produce a final result”, but Biden has sent a signal that the previous confrontation has turned to competition and cooperation. In Beijing’s view, this is a sign of Biden’s weakness. Will the U.S. really accept softness and change a series of tough policies against the Chinese Communist Party during the Trump administration. At present, there is no obvious action. On the contrary, Washington has reported that the White House is seriously considering Taiwan’s proposal to change the Washington-based organization from the “Taipei Economics”. The requirement to change “Cultural Representative Office” to “Taiwan Representative Office” will undoubtedly anger Beijing.
Not only that, but on September 7th, local time in the United States, Biden signed a notice that announced on September 12, 2018 President Trump’s “Executive Order to Impose Certain Sanctions When Foreign Intervention in the U.S. Election” (Executive The state of emergency in Order on Imposing Certain Sanctions in the Event of Foreign Interference in a United States Election) was extended by one year, that is, until the 2022 midterm elections in the United States.
The Executive Order (No. 13848) is based on the U.S. Constitution and U.S. laws, including the International Emergency Economic Power Act (50 USC 1701, etc.), the National Emergency Act (50 USC 1601, etc.), and the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 “(8 USC 1182(f)) Section 212(f) and Section 301 of Chapter 3 of the United States Code give it the powers of the president. According to the executive order, if foreign forces interfere in the US election, the president can declare a state of emergency in response to this threat. The so-called “interference in elections” refers to interference with election infrastructure, as well as propaganda and dissemination of false information.
In Biden’s extended notice, although he stated that “there is no evidence that foreign powers have changed the results of any U.S. elections or voting forms,” he acknowledged that “foreign powers have been trying to exploit the free loopholes and open political system of the United States” and pointed out “All or most people located outside the United States have the ability to interfere with or undermine public confidence in the U.S. elections, including through unauthorized access to election and campaign infrastructure or secretly distributing propaganda and false information, and continue to be concerned about U.S. national security and foreign policy Constitute an extraordinary threat”. Based on this, Biden stated that in accordance with Article 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 USC 1622(d)), he declared that the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13848 will continue for one year in response to “intervention by foreign forces. Or threats to undermine public confidence in the U.S. election.” The circular will also be submitted to Congress.
Biden’s announcement seems to be somewhat contradictory. On the one hand, he said that there was no evidence that foreign powers changed the results and voting forms of the US election. On the other hand, he said that foreign powers interfered in the US election and constituted a threat to the United States. To prevent threats, the country needs to enter a state of emergency. Whether foreign forces have interfered in the U.S. election will eventually surface with the release of audit results in Arizona and other states.
As early as last year, Attorney Powell bluntly stated that US vote data was sent overseas for calculation, and that voting machines and vote-counting software were controlled by foreign interest groups and manipulated algorithms to change the results. She specifically pointed out that “communist funds” from Cuba, Venezuela, and the Chinese Communist Party are likely to be used to influence the U.S. election.
However, in the United States, which pays attention to conclusive evidence, before the dust settles, it is reasonable to say that “there is no evidence that foreign powers changed the results of the US election and the voting table”, but there is obviously evidence that foreign powers, including the CCP, have interfered in the United States. general election. In this regard, Biden does not deny.
So why did Biden suddenly declare a state of emergency at this time? And it is aimed at foreign powers. Some mainland analysts pointed out that this is aimed at Trump, because Biden is currently unfavorable with Afghanistan’s withdrawal, and the polls have dropped to a new low, and the audit results in Arizona and other states are also unfavorable to him, so it can suppress domestic dissatisfaction. If this is the case, Biden could declare a state of emergency in accordance with the National Emergency Law, instead of extending Trump’s administrative order mainly against the Chinese Communist Party. Therefore, Biden’s goal of extending the executive order is more likely to be the CCP, but in order to avoid repercussions in Beijing, he only low-key prolonged Trump’s executive order to declare a state of emergency in the United States.
A national emergency in the United States usually refers to a temporary and serious state of emergency that the government takes a series of special measures to implement at a national or local level under a crisis. It is usually announced during a national defense crisis, war, emergency epidemic, etc., and the length of time is uncertain. Once a state of emergency is declared, the President of the United States can have at least 136 emergency powers, including confiscation of property, regulation of production methods, confiscation of goods, dispatching troops to foreign countries, imposing martial law, control of transportation and communications, control of private enterprise operations, etc. Re-use chemical and biological weapons under conditions.
In addition, according to Administrative Order No. 13848, for foreign entities (associations, trust funds, joint ventures, companies, groups, subgroups, or other organizations) or individuals that are confirmed to interfere in the U.S. election, all their property in the U.S. will be frozen. And it cannot be transferred, paid, exported or processed in other ways. Other penalties include: prohibiting all transactions in personal property and interests in property under the jurisdiction of the United States; restricting any regulations or regulations that require prior review and approval of the U.S. government to be a condition for the export or re-export of goods or services Export permits; prohibits U.S. financial institutions from lending or providing credit to their people; restricts foreign exchange transactions that are beneficial to them; prohibits transferring credit or payments between financial institutions or through any financial institution for the benefit of individuals; prohibits Americans from investing or Purchase their own equity or debt; drive their foreign company executives out of the United States, etc.
Does this mean that the United States still maintains a high degree of vigilance against the CCP. Once the U.S.-China military upgrades in the Taiwan and South China Seas, the United States is very likely to take punitive measures against various CCP entities, and it does not even rule out the possibility of sending troops to Taiwan. From this point of view, if Beijing thinks that Xi’s call is the United States’ soft service, and is a little bit happy, then it might as well think about why Biden extended Trump’s executive order. The many differences between the United States and China on fundamental issues, as well as the U.S.’s increasingly clear understanding of the CCP, have determined that the relationship between the two sides does not appear to be “invisible.”
This article only represents the author’s views and statements.
(Editor in charge: Liu Mingxiang)
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