An American-Chinese trade association is applauding a speech on relations between the two nations delivered by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on May 26.
“The scale and the scope of the challenge posed by the People’s Republic of China will test American diplomacy like nothing we’ve seen before,” Blinken said in a speech delivered at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. “I’m determined to give the State Department and our diplomats the tools that they need to meet this challenge head on as part of my modernization agenda.”
The U.S.-China Business Council, in a statement released Thursday, said it appreciates having the Biden administration delineate its policy toward China, America’s third-largest trade partner.
Wang Wenbin
| Ministry of Foreign Affairs, People’s Republic of China
“We warmly welcome Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s speech about the administration’s China policy, including his emphasis on diplomacy, his call for a level playing field, and his position that the lack of reciprocity in market access is unacceptable,” USCBC President Craig Allen said.
Blinken, who worked with Biden when he was a senator from Delaware and again when he was vice president under President Barack Obama, warned that China’s aggressive moves in recent months has provided considerable cause for concern.
“China is the only country with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to do it,” he said. “Beijing’s vision would move us away from the universal values that have sustained so much of the world’s progress over the past 75 years. China is also integral to the global economy and to our ability to solve challenges from climate to COVID. Put simply, the United States and China have to deal with each other for the foreseeable future. That’s why this is one of the most complex and consequential relationships of any that we have in the world today.”
Douglas K. Barry, the business council’s vice president for communications and publications, told Globe Banner that the speech was much-needed medicine. It might go down hard, but it will be useful.
“If you’re in the China leadership there’s probably a lot to dislike about the speech. But a number of points needed to be made, especially reciprocity in market access and creating a level playing field for U.S. companies,” Barry said. “These are not new requests. What may be new is the pressure the Biden administration is willing to apply. For progress to be made, there must be dialogue and diplomacy. Now, there’s little of that going on. One good outcome is that there’s no ambiguity about the administration’s position.”
Blinken said the United States does not want to interfere with China, but it does want to make clear it will not abide its efforts to exercise undue influence on other countries, nor continue to commit human rights violations.
“We don’t seek to block China from its role as a major power, nor to stop China — or any other country, for that matter — from growing their economy or advancing the interests of their people,” he said. “But we will defend and strengthen the international law, agreements, principles, and institutions that maintain peace and security, protect the rights of individuals and sovereign nations, and make it possible for all countries — including the United States and China — to coexist and cooperate.”
Blinken said China has changed a greatly from 50 years ago, when President Richard Nixon stunned the world with a visit to the Asian giant.
“Then, China was isolated and struggling with widespread poverty and hunger,” Blinken said. “Now, China is a global power with extraordinary reach, influence and ambition. It’s the second-largest economy, with world-class cities and public transportation networks. It’s home to some of the world’s largest tech companies and it seeks to dominate the technologies and industries of the future.
“It’s rapidly modernized its military and intends to become a top tier fighting force with global reach. And it has announced its ambition to create a sphere of influence in the Indo-Pacific and to become the world’s leading power,” he said. “China’s transformation is due to the talent, the ingenuity, the hard work of the Chinese people. It was also made possible by the stability and opportunity that the international order provides. Arguably, no country on Earth has benefited more from that than China. But rather than using its power to reinforce and revitalize the laws, the agreements, the principles, the institutions that enabled its success so that other countries can benefit from them, too, Beijing is undermining them.”
Blinken said President Xi and the Chinese Communist Party have “become more repressive at home and more aggressive abroad.”
That is evidenced by conducting mass surveillance within China and exporting that to more than 80 countries, advancing unlawful maritime claims in the South China Sea, undermining peace and security, freedom of navigation, and commerce, circumventing or breaking trade rules, which harms workers and companies in the United States and around the world.
He said while China says it supports sovereignty and territorial integrity, it has allied itself with governments that brazenly violate them.
“Even while Russia was clearly mobilizing to invade Ukraine, President Xi and President Putin declared that the friendship between their countries was — and I quote — ‘without limits,’” Blinken said. “Just this week, as President Biden was visiting Japan, China and Russia conducted a strategic bomber patrol together in the region. Beijing’s defense of President Putin’s war to erase Ukraine’s sovereignty and secure a sphere of influence in Europe should raise alarm bells for all of us who call the Indo-Pacific region home.”
He said “this is a charged moment for the world,” which is why diplomacy is vital.
“We stand ready to increase our direct communication with Beijing across a full range of issues. And we hope that that can happen,” Blinken said. “But we cannot rely on Beijing to change its trajectory. So we will shape the strategic environment around Beijing to advance our vision for an open, inclusive international system.”
He also criticized the Chinese for allowing its companies far greater access to our markets than American companies have in China.
“For example, Americans who want to read the China Daily or communicate via WeChat are free to do so, but The New York Times and Twitter are prohibited for the Chinese people, except those working for the government who use these platforms to spread propaganda and disinformation,” Blinken said. “American companies operating in China have been subject to systematic forced technology transfer, while Chinese companies in America have been protected by our rule of law. Chinese filmmakers can freely market their movies to American theater owners without any censorship by the U.S. government, but Beijing strictly limits the number of foreign movies allowed in the Chinese market, and those that are allowed are subjected to heavy-handed political censorship.”
He also pointed to inequities in the steel market, noting Beijing directed massive over-investment by Chinese companies, flooding the global market with cheap steel.
“Unlike U.S. companies and other market-oriented firms, Chinese companies don’t need to make a profit — they just get another injection of state-owned bank credit when funds are running low,” the secretary said. “Plus, they do little to control pollution or protect the rights of their workers, which also keeps costs down. As a consequence, China now accounts for more than half of global steel production, driving U.S. companies – as well as factories in India, Mexico, Indonesia, Europe, and elsewhere – out of the market. We’ve seen this same model when it comes to solar panels, electric car batteries — key sectors of the 21st century economy that we cannot allow to become completely dependent on China.”
Allen welcomed this clear and strong stance.
“We also firmly support his call to engage with China constructively wherever the United States can, to strengthen U.S. competitiveness, and to partner with countries on economic issues of common interest. This approach should include more trade dialogues and negotiations with a view to improving market access in China and removing U.S. and Chinese tariffs which will benefit the U.S. economy and support job growth,” he said. “Getting U.S. policy toward China right is critical for achieving all U.S. priorities in the Indo-Pacific region and globally, which includes important economic, foreign policy, and national security considerations.”
He said providing greater U.S. access to China’s market will create additional American jobs and ensure our companies remain leaders in US and international markets.
Barry told Globe Banner in the end, the speech will be noted as a positive development.
“China will also dislike the focus on working with allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific which may be seen as ‘ganging up’ and bottling up,” he said. “In fact, consensus-based agreement on trade rules of the road will benefit all stakeholders including China. Hegemony will not get us where we need to be.”
The Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., provided this response to Globe Banner from Wang Wenbin, a foreign ministry spokesperson in Beijing.
“The China-U.S. relationship is now at an important crossroads,” Wenbin said. “Should we pursue antagonism and confrontation or dialogue and cooperation? Should we seek mutual benefit and win-win cooperation or zero-sum game?”
He accused Blinken of spreading “disinformation” by playing up the so-called “China threat,” threatening to interfere in China’s internal affairs and smear China’s domestic and foreign policy.
“The sole purpose is to contain and suppress China’s development and maintain the U.S. hegemony,” Wenbin said. “China deplores and rejects this.”
He said the secretary of state was “completely confusing right and wrong when calling China ‘the most serious long-term challenge to the international order.’ China was, is and will remain a guardian of the international order. We uphold the UN-centered international system, the international order based on international law and the basic norms governing international relations underpinned by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.”
Wenbin said peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom are the common values of humanity.
“Democracy and human rights have historical, specific and practical contexts. Countries can only explore suitable paths in light of national realities and people’s needs,” he said. “There is no one-size-fits-all model. No country has the right to monopolize the definition of democracy and human rights, to lecture others on those issues, or to meddle in other countries’ internal affairs under pretext of human rights. The U.S. is running a deficit in democracy and human rights with its deplorable track record. Is it in a position to posture as a guardian of democracy and human rights and criticize other countries on these issues?”
Wenbin said the United States should not interfere with China as it deals with Taiwan, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Tibet. They are “purely China’s internal affairs,” he said. “Resolving the Taiwan question and achieving complete national reunification is the shared aspiration and firm will of all the Chinese people. There is no room for any compromise. The U.S. said that it does not support ‘Taiwan independence,’ but it is doing quite the opposite.
“Hong Kong is part of China. When implementing the policy of ‘people of Hong Kong administering Hong Kong,’ we follow China’s Constitution and the Basic Law of Hong Kong, not Sino-British Joint Declaration,” Wenbin said. “We urge the U.S. to abide by basic norms governing international relations, stop using the above-mentioned issues to interfere in China’s internal affairs, and stop spreading lies and disinformation. We solemnly warn the U.S. side not to underestimate the strong resolution, will and capability of the Chinese people to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
In his speech, Blinken rejected that argument.
“On Taiwan, our approach has been consistent across decades and administrations. The United States remains committed to our ‘one China’ policy, which is guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the three Joint Communiques, the Six Assurances,” he said. “We oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means. We continue to have an abiding interest in peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. We’ll continue to uphold our commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act to assist Taiwan in maintaining a sufficient self-defense capability.”
Blinken also dismissed Chinese complaints about outside involvement in human rights violations.
“That is wrong. Its treatment of ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang and Tibet, along with many other actions, go against the core tenets of the UN Charter that Beijing constantly cites and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that all countries are meant to adhere to,” he said. “Beijing’s quashing of freedom in Hong Kong violates its handover commitments, enshrined in a treaty deposited at the United Nations. We’ll continue to raise these issues and call for change — not to stand against China, but to stand up for peace, security, and human dignity.”
Wenbin urged the United States not to try to isolate China, encircle or contain it.
For now, he emphasized the need for caution and said China will monitor the future actions of the United States.
“We have noted that Secretary Blinken said in his speech that the U.S. is not looking for conflict or a new Cold War with China; it doesn’t seek to block China from its role as a major power, nor to stop China from growing its economy; and it wants to coexist peacefully with China,” Wenbin said. “We are watching what the U.S. will do.”
Blinken emphasized while there are “profound differences with the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government,” they do not extend to the citizens of both superpowers.
“The American people have great respect for the Chinese people. We respect their achievements, their history, their culture,” he said. “We deeply value the ties of family and friendship that connect us. And we sincerely wish for our governments to work together on issues that matter to their lives and to the lives of Americans, and for that matter the lives of people around the world.”