Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to make a long-awaited speech outlining the Biden administration’s China strategy at George Washington University on Thursday morning.
Sources told Politico that Blinken is not expected to say anything surprising and that the strategy will be mostly modeled on the China policy President Biden inherited from the Trump administration.
Biden has continued Trump’s hardline approach to China by maintaining tariffs, increasing the US military presence in the South China Sea, and stepping up support for Taiwan. Both administrations emphasized the importance of building alliances in the region to counter China, prompting Biden to sign the AUKUS defense pact with the UK and Australia.
Biden has also taken steps to boost cooperation between the Quad, an informal security grouping that consists of the US, India, Japan, and Australia. In September, Biden hosted the first-ever in-person summit of Quad leaders.
The US focus on alliance-building was made clear in the US Indo-Pacific Strategy that was released earlier this year. The Biden administration is also due to release another China strategy document, dubbed the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. The document Blinken’s speech will be based on won’t be made public. Instead, Blinken will give a broad overview of the strategy.
Despite the war in Ukraine and the US push to hurt Russia, China remains the Biden administration’s top foreign policy focus. The Pentagon recently briefed Congress on its new National Defense Strategy, which identifies Beijing as the top “threat” facing the US military.
Chinese officials have been strongly warning against the US push to encircle China, but there is little hope that Washington will change its hardline approach. Biden outlined his confrontational approach in a speech to Congress last year, where he said the US is “in competition with China and other countries to win the 21st Century.”
Oh boy, proxy wars on two fronts, against two nuclear-equipped nations! THIS should be fun to watch !
So basically a return to the 45-year status quo ante of 1945-1990.
Hasn’t that cat been left out if the bag? What exactly will be unveiled?
An attempt to bankrupt China by forcing it to increase its defense budget. That will fail because China, not us, will determine the speed of increase of its military outlays. China can and will out-wait us.
Way to go Joe! Solidify the bonds between Russia and China. Perfect!
I think most people assumed that Trump was motivated by what was good for Trump. That isn’t so obvious about Biden. But it’s hard to believe that he doesn’t realize that his sanctions are creating windfall opportunities for those who are well-connected. Is he as clueless as he seems about the costs of his sanctions and trade policies that will have to be paid by populations across the world, including our own? Is he bluffing? Or is he taking Trump 101 to a whole new level?
One thing is certain. Our trading partners have come to realize that they must protect themselves from US intervention in international banking and US efforts to control rare and semi rare global resources.
“Is he as clueless as he seems about the costs of his sanctions and trade policies that will have to be paid by populations across the world, including our own? Is he bluffing? Or is he taking Trump 101 to a whole new level?”
While I disagree with his sanctions and trade policies, there’s a fourth plausible explanation: Politics.
Biden has always counted organized labor as part of his base. He pushes their causes, they get out the vote for him and his party. His sanctions and trade policies tend to advantage unionized industries — or, in cases where disadvantage is universal, to disadvantage them less than others — at least in the short term (i.e. at least absent total economic collapse).
The way Trump went after China and specifically damning companies like Huawei without any real proof of so called “back-door’ espionage was hypocritical at best..your thoughts…
This same US behavior produced war with Russia. So it is proven for The Blob.
Something must be done to end the reign of The Blob. Obama could not do it, and Biden is not even trying. Republicans are worse.
Will it take a more serious defeat, or use of nuclear weapons? What will it take?
Throughout all of 2022 the value of China’s exports has continued its stellar increase which began in 2021. The dollar value of that export today is about 60% larger than it was on the day when President Trump slapped the first tariffs on imports of goods from China.
Conclusion: the Biden policy to be announced by Blinken is a campaign trick: “look ma how tough I am! Tougher than Trump!”
There are probably only a few countries which will continue to support this madness: Israel (not sure!), S. Korea, Taiwan(?), Japan (?), Australia. The world’s middle classes will pay for this mad adventure ride because the Chinese economy is the prime supporter of their current, endangered living standards.
As I have said before, a world wide recession. ( I went on line to check out iodine sales and it is through the roof)
biden will request $33 billion from congress to fight china in addition to the $33 billion he has already requested to fight russia
If you aren’t kidding, please provide details
Biden is pumping weapons into Ukraine to keep the Russians busy there while he shifts back to aggression against China.
Wonder how far this will go. While China invests in infrastructure around the world, we form alliances and foment wars around the globe.
Idk about you, but I LOVE paying a 25% tax on everything we continue to buy from China while we already have record inflation. Our imports from China have only increased since the trade war. You want a quick help to inflation? Stop the stupid tariffs, easy and simple.
How many factories do we have making toys and iPhones yet? Oh wait still none. What a failure of a trade war. Consumers and farmers are the only ones hurt.
The China strategy will be to accuse them of genocide, human rights abuse, impose tariffs on their goods, ban their telecon companies from doing business here and then the icing on the cake, ask them for help against Russia.