Calls China the most serious challenge to global order
\nWeb Desk
\nWASHINGTON
\nThe United States will not block China from growing its economy, but wants it to adhere to international rules, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday in a long-awaited speech on US strategy to address China\u2019s rise as a great power.
\nWashington will not try to change China\u2019s political system, but will defend international law and institutions that maintain peace and security and make it possible for countries to coexist, he said.
\n\u201cWe are not looking for conflict or a new Cold War. To the contrary, we\u2019re determined to avoid both,\u201d Blinken said in the 45-minute speech at George Washington University, which covered most contentious bilateral issues.
\nUS-China relations sank to their lowest level in decades under former President Donald Trump and have soured further under President Joe Biden, a Democrat who has kept up his Republican predecessor\u2019s sweeping tariffs on Chinese goods while pursuing closer ties with allies to push back against Beijing.
\nSeventeen months into his administration Biden had faced criticism from Republicans and some foreign policy watchers for not announcing a formal strategy on China, the world\u2019s second-largest economy and Washington\u2019s main strategic rival.
\nForeign crises, including the messy US withdrawal from Afghanistan last year and Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine, have created distractions for Biden, who has vowed not to let China surpass the United States as global leader on his watch.
\nBut his administration has sought to capitalize on fresh solidarity with allies spurred by the Ukraine crisis and the \u201cno-limits\u201d partnership China announced with Moscow just weeks before Russia\u2019s Feb. 24 invasion of its neighbour.
\nU.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome
\nBlinken said China posed \u201cthe most serious long-term challenge to the international order.\u201d
\nHe laid out the contours of a strategy to invest in US competitiveness and align with allies and partners to compete with China, calling that competition \u201cours to lose.\u201d
\nHe said the Biden administration stood ready to increase direct communication with Beijing across a full range of issues, and would \u201crespond positively\u201d if Chinese officials take action to address concerns.
\n\u201cBut 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 and inclusive international system,\u201d he said.
\nIn response, China\u2019s Washington embassy said the United States and China shared \u201cextensive common interests and profound cooperation potential\u201d and \u201ccompetition … should not be used to define the overall picture of the China-US relations.\u201d
\n\u201cChina and the US both stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation,\u201d embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said.
\nHe noted a virtual summit between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping last November and said the relationship was \u201cat a critical crossroads.\u201d
\n\u201cWe hope the US side will work with China to earnestly implement the common understanding reached by the two leaders to enhance communication, manage differences and focus on cooperation,\u201d he said.
\nWhile Blinken credited the hard work of the Chinese people for their country\u2019s historic economic transformation in the last four decades, he took direct aim at Xi Jinping, saying:
\n\u201cUnder President Xi, the ruling Chinese Communist Party has become more repressive at home and more aggressive abroad.\u201d
\nBlinken\u2019s speech coincided with the start of a sweeping tour by China\u2019s foreign minister of Pacific island countries, an increasingly tense front in competition for influence between Beijing and Washington. read more
\nThe speech was postponed earlier in May after Blinken tested positive for COVID-19 and follows a month of intensive US diplomacy focused on the Indo-Pacific, including Biden\u2019s first trip as president to the region. read more
\nBlinken reiterated US commitment to the one-China policy over Chinese-claimed democratic Taiwan, even though Biden earlier this week said the United States would get involved militarily should China attack Taiwan.
\nWashington has had a long-standing policy of strategic ambiguity on whether it would defend Taiwan militarily and Biden and aides later said his remarks did not reflect a policy shift. read more
\nUnder the one-China policy, Washington officially recognizes Beijing diplomatically, although it is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. Blinken said this was unchanged and Washington did not support Taiwan\u2019s independence.
\n\u201cWhat has changed is Beijing\u2019s growing coercion, like trying to cut off Taiwan\u2019s relations with countries around the world, and blocking it from participating in international organizations,\u201d he said, calling the Chinese military\u2019s nearly daily activity near the island \u201cdeeply destabilizing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Calls China the most serious challenge to global order Web Desk WASHINGTON The United States will not block China from growing its economy, but wants it to adhere to international rules, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday in a long-awaited speech on US strategy to address China\u2019s rise as a great power. Washington […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263159,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[1785,18,7852,1371],"class_list":{"0":"post-263123","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-antony-blinken","9":"tag-china","10":"tag-cold-war","11":"tag-strategy"},"yoast_head":"\n