The US Secretary of State warned that the Xi Jinping regime has “increasingly the economic, diplomatic, military and technological power” to achieve its objective
Antony Blinken (Reuters)
The head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, said Thursday that the Joe Biden administration seeks to lead the international bloc that opposes the Russian invasion of Ukraine into a broader coalition to counter what he sees as a more serious and long-term threat to the world order: the rise of China.
In a speech outlining the administration’s policy on to China, Blinken laid out a three-pronged approach to compete with Beijing in a race to define the economic and military balance of the 21st century.
Although the United States sees Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine as the most acute and immediate threat to international stability, Blinken said the Biden administration believes China poses a greater danger.
“Even if President Putin’s war continues, we will remain focused on the most serious long-term challenge to the international order, which is the one posed by the People’s Republic of China,” said Blinken, in a long-awaited speech at George Washington University to expose the policy of the Biden Administration towards the Asian giant.
“China is the only country that intends to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military and technological power to do so”, he said . “Beijing’s vision would take us away from the universal values that have underpinned much of the world’s progress over the past 75 years.”
Blinken together with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi (Reuters)
Therefore, Blinken laid out the principles for the administration to pool its resources, friends and allies to deal with the growing Chinese assertiveness around the world. Although he made it clear that the United States it does not seek to change China’s political system, but rather wants to offer a proven alternative. “This is not about forcing countries to choose, but about giving them a choice,” he said.
However, he also acknowledged that the United States has limited capacity to directly influence China’s intentions and ambitions, and instead focus on shaping the strategic environment surrounding China.
“< b>We cannot trust Beijing to change course,” Blinken said in the speech, delivered at George Washington University. “So we will shape the strategic environment around Beijing to advance our vision of an open and inclusive international system.”
The speech followed President Joe Biden’s recent visits to South Korea and Japan, where China featured prominently in talks. Biden raised eyebrows during that trip when he said the United States would act militarily to help defend Taiwan in the event of an invasion by China, which views the island as a rogue province.
The administration was quick to insist that Biden was not changing US policy, and Blinken reaffirmed that the US has not changed its position. The secretary said that Washington continues to maintain its “one China” policy, which recognizes Beijing but allows unofficial ties and arms sales to Taipei.
“Our approach has been consistent across decades and administrations. The United States remains committed to our “One China” policy. We oppose any unilateral change of the status quo by either side,” he said, adding: “We do not support Taiwan independence.”
Blinken said that while US policy on Taiwan has remained constant, China’s has become increasingly belligerent.
The flags of China and Taiwan in a composition with fighter jets (Reuters)
He argued that the global response to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine can serve as a model to counter the efforts of China for shaping a new and unpredictable world order to replace the norms and institutions that have guided relations between states since the end of World War II.
China, Blinken said, has benefited greatly from that international order but is now trying to subvert it under the leadership of President Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party. “Instead of using its power to strengthen and reinvigorate the laws, agreements, principles and institutions that allowed its success, so that other countries can also benefit from them, Beijing is undermining it,” said Blinken. “Under President Xi, the ruling Chinese Communist Party has become more repressive at home and more aggressive abroad.”
However, Blinken also denounced the rise in anti-Chinese and anti-Asian hate crimes in the United States, saying that Chinese Americans and other Asian Americans have the same right to the United States as any other immigrant or their descendants.
Investment in US domestic infrastructure and technology, along with intensifying diplomatic relations with potentially vulnerable countries, are other elements of the policy and are key to the US approach, Blinken said.
In the latest sign of China’s push to expand its reach, which has raised concerns from the United States and other democracies, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi kicked off a tour of eight island countries on Thursday Pacific, during which Beijing hopes to reach a broad agreement covering everything from security to fisheries.
Wang kicked off his tour in the Solomon Islands, which last month signed a security cooperation pact with China that some fear could lead to a Chinese military presence there. The deal closed shortly after the Biden administration announced it would open a US embassy in the Solomons as part of its efforts to engage in the Indo-Pacific region.
The administration Biden has largely upheld the confrontational policies toward China adopted by his predecessor in response to Chinese actions in his western region of Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Tibet, and the South China Sea.
And while the administration sees areas to work with Beijing, such as combating climate change, it will not trade cooperation for a commitment to its human rights and rule of law principles, Blinken said.
< p class=”paragraph”>(With information from AP/By Matthew Lee)