Tensions high in Alaska talks with focus on strategic issues
Senior officials from the United States and China met on Thursday for their first official face-to-face meeting since the Biden administration took office. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Tony Blinken met Director of the CCP Central Foreign Affairs Commission Yang Jiechi and State Councilor Wang Yi in Alaska where they publicly delivered opening remarks before privately diving into...
Senior US-China meeting set for next week
On Wednesday, the State Department announced that Secretary of State Tony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan would meet with Chinese counterparts Wang Yi and Yang Jiechi in Anchorage, Alaska next Thursday, March 18. The meeting will come just days after Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin travel to Japan and South Korea for several meetings with their counterparts. The State Department has not provided details on the...
USTR releases Biden’s 2021 Trade Agenda
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) published President Biden’s 2021 Trade Agenda and 2020 Annual Trade Report on Monday. Biden’s agenda underscores the importance of a comprehensive strategy to address China’s coercive and unfair economic trade practices. It also mentions the importance of domestic investment in US innovation to compete with China’s economy and expand American companies’ access to global markets. It...
Biden signs executive order mandating supply chain reviews
On Wednesday, the White House signed an executive order directing executive agencies to review US critical supply chains for vulnerabilities and suggest specific policies for addressing them. While the order does not directly mention China, it raises concerns about an overreliance on “nations that are, or are likely to become, unfriendly or unstable.”
100-day review: The executive order directs agencies to immediately...
In a town hall on Tuesday, President Joe Biden spoke about his approach to the US-China relationship and his recent conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Biden said his administration would reassert its role as spokesperson for human rights and ensure there are repercussions for China’s actions in Xinjiang. Doubling down, he warned that China would not become a world leader if it continued to harm basic human rights. On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki dodged a...
On Wednesday, just before the Chinese Lunar New Year, President Joe Biden spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first time since Biden took office. According to the official White House readout, Biden underscored US concerns about China’s unfair economic practices, as well as the government’s activities in Hong Kong, Tibet, and Xinjiang, and assertive behavior toward Taiwan and in the Indo-Pacific region. The leaders also discussed areas of cooperation, such as climate change and...
The White House this week continued to emphasize a strategic approach to engaging China in coordination with allies. When pressed on the Biden administration’s China strategy on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki described the relationship as “multi-layered,” noting that it is a priority to engage China on climate, the economy, and security. Though President Joe Biden and his diplomatic team have continued to hold calls with foreign leaders, there is still no indication as to...
Congress has played an important role in developing China policy, including granting China permanent normal trade relations with the United States in 1999 in advance of China’s accession to the World Trade Organization. For several reasons, congressional interest in stewarding the United States’ approach to China has skyrocketed recently. In its two years in session, beginning in January 2019, the 116th Congress introduced an impressive 552 China-related proposals, comprised of 465 bills and...
The Biden administration this week affirmed its intention to hold China accountable on several fronts, making clear it would do so strategically and in coordination with allies. Strengthening cooperation on areas of shared interest, including China, were topics of President Biden and his national security team’s early engagements with foreign counterparts, which included Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Canada to name a few. It is not yet clear...
Genocide determination could impede Biden’s early engagement with China
President Joe Biden and his administration inherited an increasingly fraught US-China relationship on Wednesday. On Tuesday, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s last day in office, Pompeo determined that the Chinese government had committed crimes against humanity and genocide against the Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang. The US decision to label the situation a genocide under the UN Genocide Convention does not...
