President-elect Joe Biden’s national security adviser nominee Jake Sullivan said the incoming administration will come down on China after how it handled the coronavirus outbreak.
Sullivan said he wants the “major focus” of the National Security Council’s work to revolve around recovering and getting out of the pandemic as well as restructuring the council to make public health a permanent priority for national security.
“The way you actually make sure this doesn’t happen again is by sending a very clear message to China that the United States and the rest of the world will not accept a circumstance in which we do not have an effective public health surveillance system, with an international dimension, in China and across the world going forward,” Sullivan told Politico.
The coronavirus pandemic has infected more than 60 million people worldwide.
Sullivan, 43, added that the administration will focus on restoring the country’s alliances with other nations he believes were neglected or damaged by President Trump.
“Unlike the policy of the last few years, we will be able to rally the rest of the world behind us,” he said.
Sullivan served as Biden’s national security adviser in 2013 when he was vice president, and after Hillary Clinton had stepped down as secretary of state. He worked with Clinton as her deputy chief of staff and planning director at the State Department and advised her and former President Barack Obama during the 2008 election cycle. He played a central role in Clinton’s 2016 presidential run as well, serving as her chief foreign policy adviser and traveling to 112 countries with her.
