Polar Diplomacy? Congress promotes foreign policy that often breaks from Biden

The world has been getting a bit of a mixed message from Washington these days as Congress has been promoting foreign policy that often breaks from the Biden administration.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy led a bipartisan meeting with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen despite opposition from the Chinese Communist Party.

While the meeting was in the works, the Biden administration was privately attempting to calm tensions with China's government, according to reports.

The meeting even received praise from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat. 

"Today’s meeting between President Tsai of Taiwan and Speaker McCarthy is to be commended for its leadership, its bipartisan participation and its distinguished and historic venue," she said.

The GOP-led House has taken several actions to combat threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party, including creating a select committee dedicated to the issue.

The Biden administration's handling of the Chinese spy balloon received bipartisan criticism in February. 

Senate Intelligence Chairman Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, said the Biden administration allowed the balloon to float in U.S. airspace for too long before ultimately shooting it down.

It was revealed this week that China had gathered more intelligence from sensitive American military sites after Biden had said the incident wasn't a "major breach."

Meanwhile, the Biden administration and the French government are reportedly open to courting China for help to end the war in Ukraine.

Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., said there's a void to fill in the absence of certain foreign policy actions from the executive branch.

"I think this is what happens in the absence of real leadership. There's always a vacuum that's created and obviously China and others are stepping in to fill that," he said on the “Just the News Not Noise” TV program. "And it's very concerning for those of us that love this country, have lost, you know, close friends in the service of this country."

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, argued that Biden is "leading from behind" on foreign policy while China, Iran and Russia are getting more aggressive.

“When you project weakness, you invite aggression and war,” he said. “When you project strength, like Reagan talked about, you invite peace. You are seeing… Iran getting aggressive and now, Putin invading Ukraine. and Chairman Xi and China – he’s threatening Taiwan and the Pacific," he said in late March. "All these things are happening at the same time and it is not by accident, it is by design – and it’s a weak foreign policy out of fear.”

In 2021, the Biden administration angered France, an ally, over the president's decision not to include the country in a U.S.-U.K.-Aussie nuclear submarines pact.

Biden ultimately had to patch things up with France afterward, telling French President Emmanuel Macron that the rollout of the deal was "clumsy."

When Biden's State Department began considering reviving parts of the Iran nuclear deal last year, members of the president's own party in Congress, such as New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, were quick to express opposition to the move.

Menendez was also a vocal critic of the Biden administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, describing the administration's handling of the situation as "fatally flawed."

“There has to be accountability,” he said at the time.

Congressional leaders on Thursday formally invited

Republic of Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol to address a joint meeting of Congress in April in a show of support for South Korea amid fresh threats from North Korea.

This address will be the first since Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered in-person remarks before Congress in December. Yeol will also be meeting with Biden while in Washington.