President Biden’s first week in office was largely focused on rolling back many of former President Donald Trump’s policy priorities with a stroke of a pen, except when it came to China.
From economic to foreign policy, Biden’s early posture toward Beijing mirrors that of his predecessor, at least as his administration finds its proverbial feet. After running a campaign focused in part on moving on from Trump’s hard-line “America first,” populist governing philosophy, some of the new chief executive’s top aides have said the 45th president was right to push tougher policies toward the Asian giant, even if they disagree with his rhetoric or some tactics.
On Monday, for instance, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters 25% tariffs Trump left on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports would remain in place while Biden’s team continued “evaluating” them as part of his “multilateral approach to engaging with China.” That Biden is keeping them, even temporarily, is notable given that he has used over 30 executive actions since Jan. 20 to undo parts of his predecessor’s legacy to which the new administration most strongly objects.
Biden condemned Trump’s trade war with China during the campaign, though he did say in a town hall that he would rely on a similar tactic to counter coal exports if need be. But during the transition period, he said he wouldn’t change Trump’s levies “immediately” because he didn’t want to “prejudice” his options after the inauguration.
Then Psaki suggested last week there was common ground on Trump designating China’s treatment of Uighur Muslims as “genocide.” The position was later confirmed by the Washington Examiner.
That agreement was less surprising given Biden’s campaign had called the “unspeakable oppression” of Uighurs “at the hands of China’s authoritarian government” genocide. And his now-Secretary of State Antony Blinken made the same determination last week during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“President Trump was right in taking a tougher approach to China,” Blinken said. “I disagree very much with the way he went about it in a number of areas, but the basic principle was the right one.”
Biden sticking with some of Trump’s China policies was foreshadowed by Kurt Campbell, his newly-appointed Asia czar. In an interview before Biden’s win, Campbell, in a personal capacity, described an “appreciation” in Asia regarding Trump’s moves in the region.
“[I’ve found] myself in a couple of briefings, senior briefings, in which I’ve said, ‘Look, you know, there are some things about President Trump and Asia that we should look at carefully,'” Campbell said. “I can tell you that sometimes when you say things like that, it’s not viewed necessarily particularly well.”
He added, “It’s almost as if it’s seen through a loyalty lens. And that’s really where mistakes occur, in which you are unable to appreciate that there will inevitably be areas of continuity. And there should be.”
Biden’s perceived wishy-washy stance toward China was scrutinized during the campaign. The main gist of the criticism was that he has repeatedly downplayed the threat posed by the country’s communist regime.
As a 36-year senator and as a two-term vice president, Biden has generally argued that, as he wrote in a 2011 opinion piece, “A successful China can make our country more prosperous, not less.”
As a former Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, he supported permanent normalized trade relations with China and backed admitting it into the World Trade Organization in the late 1990s and early 2000s. And as a presidential candidate and nominee, he’s equivocated on whether China is “competition for us.”
Despite Biden’s soft gloves, China presents his administration with a problem as he and his staff seek cooperation on issues such as climate change, while also wanting to denounce unfair trade practices and human rights violations.
There is, though, some consensus among Democrats that the party should have been tougher on China during former President Barack Obama’s tenure, including from Obama himself, according to comments he made during his recent book tour.
But Republicans are skeptical of Biden’s willingness to exercise “strategic patience,” an Obama-era phrase more frequently applied to North Korea.
“What we’ve seen over the last few years is that China is growing more authoritarian at home and more assertive abroad. And Beijing is now challenging our security, prosperity, and values in significant ways that require a new U.S. approach,” Psaki said Monday.
Biden the same day reinstated the ban on noncitizens traveling to the United States from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Europe’s Schengen Area, and South Africa. He also extended a prohibition on travelers from Brazil. Conservatives quickly blasted the executive action as “xenophobic fear-mongering,” parroting rhetoric Biden used against Trump’s response to China amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden signed a presidential memorandum this week, too, condemning anti-Asian racism after a rise in harassment and violence during the pandemic. An increase in incidents have been reported as nicknames for COVID-19, such as the “China virus” and “Kung flu,” became popular, in part thanks to Trump. The outbreak first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
And Biden’s Commerce Secretary-designate Gina Raimondo would not commit Tuesday to keeping Huawei on the U.S. entities blacklist after Trump deemed the Chinese telecom company a national security threat.
For Brookings Institution’s Darrell West, whose expertise lies in artificial intelligence, robotics, and the future of work, there were similarities between Trump and Biden’s China policies. But there were sharp differences as well, he said.
“Trump’s approach to China was completely impulsive and chaotic. He made decisions with no sense of tactics or strategy, and the results were not very effective,” he told the Washington Examiner. “Biden shares his predecessor’s view of being tough on China but will do so in a more systematic manner.”
