WASHINGTON – Biden administration officials tried to project a hard line over China in their first weeks in office, proposing authoritarian government as an economic and security challenge for the United States taking a much more strategic and calculated approach required as that of the Trump administration. .
They also tried to send a message: While the administration will be staffed by many familiar faces of the Obama administration, China’s policies will not return to what they were a decade ago.
These early efforts did not shy away from the enormous challenge facing President Biden in trying to formulate a strategy to deal with China at a time when any relations with Beijing in Washington are considered very toxic. Political opponents, including Republican lawmakers, have already begun investigating Biden’s advisers, ready to attempt any attempt to reverse President Donald J. Trump’s sentencing, including tariffs and bans on technology exports. pull.
Ted Cruz, the Republican senator from Texas, has put a stop on the confirmation of Gina Raimondo, the nominated candidate for trade secretary of Mr., who is delaying the vote on her confirmation because she refuses to explicitly commit to keeping the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei on a blacklist for national security. Some Republican lawmakers also called Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Mr. Biden’s choice for the UN ambassador, criticized for giving a speech at a Confucius Institute, an organization that some described as spreading Chinese propaganda, and painted a rosy picture of China’s activities in Africa.
Several Republicans, including Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, also issued statements last week on the Biden administration’s move to withdraw a rule proposed during the Trump administration that requires universities to increase their financial ties with the Confucius institutes must disclose. to teach Chinese language and culture in American schools.
“The Biden government is going to have a very short leash to do everything that is considered a blow to China,” said Wendy Cutler, vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute and a former U.S. trade negotiator. .
Mr. Trump’s supporters give him the credit for taking a much more aggressive approach than his predecessors to policing China, including dusting off very rarely used policy instruments. These include imposing heavy tariffs on Chinese goods, restricting Beijing’s access to sensitive U.S. technology exports, imposing sanctions on Chinese officials and companies for human rights violations, and obtaining economic concessions from China as part of a trade agreement.
But the critics of Mr. Trump, including many in the Biden government, says the wave of executive orders and other actions has been contradictory and broken, and has often been more symbolic than effective.
Just like mr. Trump has issued heavy fines on some fronts, he also extended a lifeline to the Chinese telecommunications company ZTE, delayed the sanctions related to human rights violations in the Xinjiang region of China and publicly flattered President Xi Jinping of China when he flattered his sought trade agreement. Many of the executive actions taken by Trump against China have been left incomplete or riddled with loopholes.
And its policies could worsen U.S. competitiveness in some areas, according to a report published Wednesday by consulting firm Rhodium Group and the U.S. Center for the Chamber of Commerce in China. The report found steep costs due to the kind of economic “decoupling” that Mr. Trump was pursuing, including an annual loss of $ 190 billion in U.S. economic production by 2025 if all trade between America and China was subject to the kind of 25 percent tariff that Mr. Trump imposed $ 250 billion on Chinese goods.
Daniel Rosen, a founding partner at Rhodium Group, said the Biden government should consider more than politics or ideology when forging China policy, and carefully weigh the cost of its approach to industry.
“It is clear that politics at the moment is king, and no one in leadership or the pursuit of leadership wants to outwit who is difficult for China,” he said. “We are not going to serve US interests if we do not consider commercial interests and national security interests at the same time.”
The Biden government has argued that it will be more effective than the Trump administration by being more strategic in addressing China. It set out an ambitious task because it not only wants to fight China for what it considers to be unfair trade practices, but also develops a national strategy that helps build America’s economic position to better counter Chinese competition.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan addressed the Atlantic Council at the end of January, saying that the United States must first “repair the fundamentals of our democracy” by addressing issues such as economic and racial inequality, as well as investing. do in emerging countries. technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and clean energy.
Mr. Biden also stressed the importance of working with allies and international institutions to establish a tighter global position so that companies do not exceed strict US rules by taking their operations abroad.
Mr. On February 10, Biden made his first call with Mr. Xi held, in which he spoke on the preservation of a free and open Indo-Pacific and expressed his concern about Beijing’s economic and human rights practices, according to a White House lecture.
In a forum-style broadcast aired by CNN on Tuesday night, Mr. Biden, what mr. Xi is well aware of meetings during the Obama administration, saying he took a hard line on human rights and other issues during their two-hour call. .
“There will be consequences for China, and he knows it,” he said. Biden said. “What I do is make it clear that we will continue to reaffirm our role as human rights spokespersons at the UN and others – and other bodies that have an impact on their attitudes”. ”
Mr. Biden began manning his cabinet with officials who have deep experience with China. Katherine Tai, the nominated candidate as trade representative of the Biden administration, was in charge of affairs against China at the World Trade Organization during the Obama administration, and promised to strictly enforce US trade rules.
Mr. Biden’s leading foreign policy advisers have also criticized China’s practices, although they see a lot of potential for cooperation on issues such as the coronavirus pandemic and climate change. These include Foreign Minister Antony J. Blinken, Mr. Sullivan and Kurt Campbell, the “Asia Tsar” of the National Security Council.
Mrs. Raimondo, the nominee for trade secretary, will also have economic relations with China, especially those related to technology. While she had harsh words for China during her confirmation hearing, her refusal to commit to keeping Huawei on a blacklist of the government drew criticism from Republican lawmakers such as Mr. Cruz.
Finance Minister Janet L. Yellen, who is expected to play a crucial role in relations with China, took a false tone during her confirmation hearing last month and promised to use the “full range” of America’s instruments. to combat ‘illegal, unfair and insulting’. “Practice. She also criticized China’s use to steal intellectual property and subsidize state-owned enterprises, but said she did not see Trump’s tariffs as the ‘right focus’ of trade policy.
The new administration has given little concrete details on how it will implement its strategy, including whether it will implement the many executive orders Trump has instituted, such as new restrictions on investments in Chinese companies with ties to the military and bans. on apps owned by Chinese, such as TikTok, WeChat and Alipay. Instead, the administration said it was conducting a comprehensive review of tariffs, export controls and other restrictions by Mr. Trump will execute before making decisions.
Another uncertainty is how Mr. Biden and his team will handle Trump’s initial trade deal with China, as Beijing still promises to buy hundreds of billions of dollars in US products. The administration may choose to use the enforcement mechanisms of the agreement – which include consultations and more tariffs for Chinese products – or to scrap the agreement altogether.
Scott Kennedy, a senior adviser in Chinese business and economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the Biden administration has clear foreign policy objectives and a large toolbox of measures at its disposal, but has not yet ‘figured out how strategy should not be combined and tactics. ”
Regarding US competitiveness with China, “a much bigger conversation needs to be held”, Mr. Kennedy said. ‘Are they going to be willing to take part in the conversation and do the thorough analysis and come up with something new? Or will they be afraid of political setbacks and their blows? ‘
Biden’s plan to work more closely with US allies to put pressure on China can also be more easily said than done.
In an interview in January, shortly before he left office, Robert Lighthizer, Trump’s leading trade official, on a recent investment agreement signed by the European Union with China, opposed the wishes of the Biden government, as’ the first piece of evidence ‘indicated. That such multilateral cooperation would be difficult.
Chinese officials are already strengthening ties with US allies such as New Zealand and South Korea in an attempt to “divide and conquer”, Ms. Cutler said.
China emerged from the early stages of the encouraged pandemic, with its factories and businesses outperforming those in the United States and Europe, where the coronavirus continues to plague the economy. While Chinese leaders are trying to restore relations with Washington after a turbulent period under Mr. Trump, they continued to make sometimes difficult statements.
In an interview with CBS News on February 7, Biden said the two countries’ do not need to have a conflict. But there is going to be extreme competition. ”
“I’m not going to do it like Trump did,” he said. Bid added. “We are going to focus on international road rules.”
Alan Rappeport contribution made.