The Two-Sided Nature of the Biden Administration’s China Policy
Several senior officials from the United States visited China over the past three months to say that the Joe Biden administration has no intention of containing China’s development. However, at the same time, Washington has approved arms sales to the Taiwan island, provided financial assistance to its military, and continues to stir up trouble on the Tibet and South China Sea issues.
These reflect the two-sided characteristics of the Biden administration’s China policy: competition and competition management.
Competition is the main part of the US strategy toward China. It includes decoupling and breaking industry and supply chains in economy, cliquing in international politics, deterrence containment in security, and smearing in international public opinion. Its efforts at competition management are also apparent. While competition is strategic, competition management is tactic and serves to launch competition.
The new strategy reflects three goals of the US government: to provide pluralistic evidence and increase the difficulty of the opponent’s judgment by releasing “mixed signals”; to soothe the opponent’s emotions and prevent the opponent from “overreacting” by showing “self-restraint”; to expand influence channels by reserving “dialogue windows” and win limited cooperation from rivals.
But these attempts are doomed to fail, the fundamental reason being that history is not on the US’ side.
At a time when the modernization process of the world is quickly advancing, the international community cannot allow a country known for hegemony and bullying to act recklessly.
China cannot move at the pace of the US. China will always maintain strong strategic determination and strategic confidence. Only when the US completely abandons its hegemonic thinking can it manage Sino-US relations well.
China will never relax its vigilance because of a few “beautiful words” from Washington. In the face of hegemony and bullying, China will resolutely fight back. To really make a breakthrough from the time the two leaders met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali last year to their likely meeting in San Francisco this November, the US side needs to show enough sincerity.