Antony Blinken, AUKUS, Australia, Biden administration, China, Diplomacy, Executive Orders, FCC, Huawei, President Biden, sanctions, Taiwan, Technology, trade, United Kingdom, Uyghur/Uighur, Xi Jinping, Xinjiang
President Joe Biden and his administration have made clear since taking office that its primary foreign policy challenge is what it sees as China’s increasingly aggressive actions that threaten the international order cultivated over decades by the United States and its allies. While Russia’s war in Ukraine has become the immediate concern and has heightened awareness of Russia’s persistent threat, China remains a strategic priority for the United States, as demonstrated by Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s May speech outlining the administration’s policy toward China. Just last week, Biden and other NATO leaders meeting in Madrid for their annual summit cited China’s “challenge” to “our interests, security and values” in their updated Strategic Concept 2022 for the alliance going forward.
In an attempt to understand the U.S. position and its aims in navigating the China challenge, it is useful to catalog the most significant measures the Biden administration has taken to date. The overarching approach, as outlined through numerous statements and speeches , appears to be one of framing the relationship as a contest between democracy and authoritarianism, in pursuit of a free, open, and secure Indo-Pacific region, and alliances characterized by cooperation rather than coercion. The administration’s policy toward China represents the merging of a hard-line approach partially inherited from its predecessor with a greater emphasis on taking action with allies and partners.
The concrete steps detailed below suggest that the administration has sought to cooperate with its allies where it can; some of the most strategically and symbolically significant actions have been taken in lockstep with key allies, from the agreement on nuclear submarines with Australia and the United Kingdom to the new Indo-Pacific Economic Framework and the NATO strategy document referenced above. At the same time, the Biden team has been prepared to act unilaterally to impose a wide array of sanctions on Chinese individuals and firms and has maintained some key Trump-era trade restrictions. The administration has expanded its commitment to halting China’s malign efforts to gain undue or harmful regional influence through diplomatic and military means as well. This includes both actively expanding America’s presence in the region through broad multilateral agreements and through a bolstered relationship with Taiwan.
The following catalogs Biden administration actions that directly address the relationship with China: in his speech outlining U.S. China policy, for example, Blinken talked about the importance of investment at home in boosting America’s global competitiveness; such broader aspects of the dynamic are not included here. This compilation also does not attempt to be exhaustive: there are, of course, myriad decisions made on a daily basis that are part of the wider approach to China that are not detailed here. Rather, this seeks to highlight the most significant steps, so as to create an overall understanding of the administration’s approach.
Expanding Economic Cooperation Elsewhere in the Region
Continued Commitment to Certain Trump Administration Policies
Rallying U.S. Allies Around the Security Threat Posed by China
Expanding the U.S. Role in the Indo-Pacific
“Australia may begin conducting patrols that could move through areas of the South China Sea that Beijing claims as its exclusive zone and that range as far north as Taiwan. The deal enables Australia, a major U.S. ally in the region, to become a far more significant actor in the American-led alliance in the Pacific. The vessels are equipped with nuclear propulsion systems that offer limitless range and run so quietly that they are hard to detect.”
Concern over China’s role in the world is one of the few bipartisan issues remaining on Capitol Hill. In just the last few weeks, members of both parties have introduced legislation that would overhaul American policy towards Taiwan and firmly commit the United States to standing by Taiwan. The stakes involved in U.S. policy on China, coupled with the inflamed rhetoric as tensions rise, is only further evidence that the relationship with China requires delicate handling.
The measures detailed above illustrate the Biden administration’s attempt to walk that tightrope. It is impossible to anticipate the turns this relationship will take in the coming years. The measures outlined above demonstrate that, successful or not, the administration has a unified and consistent approach to China using allies where it can, but acting alone where it must, in an effort to support American interests both regionally and globally.
Antony Blinken, AUKUS, Australia, Biden administration, China, Diplomacy, Executive Orders, FCC, Huawei, President Biden, sanctions, Taiwan, Technology, trade, United Kingdom, Uyghur/Uighur, Xi Jinping, Xinjiang
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