Biden’s Asia Adviser Says There Are Still No Safeguards In US-China Relations
President Joe Biden’s efforts to put a floor under the rapidly deteriorating relationship with China have not yet succeeded, Biden’s top Asia adviser said Thursday.
(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden’s efforts to put a floor under the rapidly deteriorating relationship with China have not yet succeeded, Biden’s top Asia adviser said Thursday.
“There’s a recognition that in many respects our efforts to build a foundation or floor under the relationship and guardrails have yet to be successful,” White House Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell said at an event at the Center for a New American Security.
“The Chinese have been reluctant to engage in discussions around confidence-building or crisis communications hot lines,” Campbell said.
US-China tensions have surged once again as Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s visits the US on her way to and from Central America. That trip added to strains caused by an alleged spy balloon that transited US territory in February, as well as clashes over everything from human rights to technology and the South China Sea.
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Asked about a widely anticipated call between Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, Campbell said that the US has made “made very clear that we are ready to have that call” and that it is “very much the American intention to keep the lines of communication open.”
US officials had hoped that would have taken place by now, but China has so far rebuffed efforts to arrange a conversation. The Biden administration now expects it won’t occur until Tsai returns to Taiwan.
Campbell said that China’s assertive behavior is remaking its security environment in Asia, citing “unprecedented” changes to Japan’s defense strategy and the US’s deepening partnerships with the UK and Australia. He said those countries were “enthralled” with the idea of deeper engagement with China just a decade ago.
He also highlighted the US relationship with India as the “most important bilateral relationship for the United States into the 21st century,” despite Delhi’s hesitancy to join formal alliances.
“India is a great power,” Campbell said. “India is not an ally of the United States and will never be an ally of the United States, but that does not mean that we will not be close partners.”
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