Lucas: China just popped Biden’s re-election dream

You would think the generals of the Communist Chinese People’s Liberation Army would have returned the favor.

You would think that after all Gen. Mark Milley, the woke chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, did for the Communist Chinese they would at least have called him as a matter of professional courtesy.

You would think that Milley’s counterpart in Beijing — Gen. Li Zuocheng — would have picked up the phone to give the politically correct Milley a heads-up that the Chinese were sending a spy balloon over the United States.

This was the Communist Chinese surveillance balloon that Biden finally ordered shot down over the wrong ocean last week after it completed its spy mission over the continental U.S. from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean.

It was Milley, when Donald Trump was president, who went rogue and without Trump’s knowledge telephoned Zuocheng in Beijing during the Jan. 6 Washington riot to tell him that the U.S. was stable and would not attack China.

As quoted in Bob Woodward’s book  “Peril,” Milley said, “General Li, you and I have known each other now for five years. If we’re going to attack, I’m going to call you ahead of time. It’s not going to be a surprise.”

If Milley expected his buddy Li to tip him off in advance about the Chinese spy balloon he had to be disappointed. When the phone did not ring, he knew it was Li.

Consequently Milley, like Joe Biden and the rest of America, did not find out about the Chinese surveillance balloon flying over the country until the Billings Gazette in Montana broke the story.

So much for the country’s crack intelligence agencies.

And now the Communist Chinese are accusing the Biden administration of illegally destroying Chinese property since, according to them, it was really a weather balloon that went off course.

It’s a wonder they don’t demand damages and an apology from the big guy, although we would not want to put any such thoughts into his head.

Perhaps, though, China Joe should have had Milley call again, in view of the fact that Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghu refused to take a call from U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

This diss came after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled his visit to Beijing over the balloon flap.

So, since nobody is talking to nobody, perhaps China Joe could pick up the phone and make the call himself. He could talk directly with Communist Party leader and President Xi Jinping directly.

After all, China Joe has been known to brag how he knows Xi better than anyone else. “I’ve spent more time with him, I believe, than any other world leader,” Biden has said.

As a matter of fact, the pair of world leaders shot hoop together before a basketball game in China in 2011 when both were veeps.

The call would go like this: “Hello Xi. It’s Joe.”

Xi: “Joe who?”

Biden: “ It’s me, Joe, Joey, you know, China Joe, the big guy, your friend.”

Xi: “Some friend. You busted my balloon.”

Biden: “I had no choice; people were busting mine. I kept the balloon a secret between us, but people found out about it. I’m running for re-election. I had to do something.”

Xi: “All we wanted to do was take video of the Super Bowl.”

Biden: “You launched too early.  And you were way off course. The Super Bowl is in Arizona, and you were up in Alaska and Montana. And I did not bust your balloon until it completed its mission. Anyway, I thought you were interested in owning the NBA, not the NFL.”

Xi: “We want both”

Biden: “I’ll tell Hunter. He’ll be on the case after he’s through testifying before Congress.”

Xi: “And I want an apology and damages for you busting my balloon.”

Biden: “And you deserve one. Only it will have to wait until I’m re-elected.  Right now I have to fake standing up to you and China to show how tough I am. But please don’t send over any more balloons.”

Peter Lucas is a veteran Massachusetts political reporter and columnist.