With investment, aid, and diplomacy, China is developing considerable power and influence around the globe. The Trump administration has repeatedly claimed to take this threat to the existing world order seriously. It’s waging a trade war with Beijing, actively fighting the influence of Chinese telecommunications company Huawei, and using China’s rising threat as a justification for increased military preparedness.
Naturally, that would mean that the White House would also be interested in countering China’s influence with diplomacy, aid, and other attempts of fostering a good will toward the U.S., right?
Nope. Instead, the Trump administration is asking Congress to cut funding to those very programs. Indeed, the 2020 budget proposal unveiled on Monday includes a whopping 23 percent cut to the State Department, all of the funding being pulled from international organizations and programs rather than diplomats.
On Monday, the State Department tried to defend the president’s budget, arguing that despite cuts across the board, the State Department was still worried about China and specifically its growing dominance in the Indo-Pacific region.
As deputy secretary John Sullivan told reporters on Monday, “to advance the Indo-Pacific strategy, the budget request nearly doubles U.S. foreign assistance and diplomatic engagement resources to that region.”
That’s all well and good, but China’s not limiting its own efforts to the Indo-Pacific, and U.S. strategy shouldn’t either. To counter China’s influence, or rather, to ensure our own interests, cannot be a regional project. As retired four-star generals explained in a letter to Congress, “the military alone cannot keep our nation safe. Diplomacy and development are essential to combating threats before they reach our shores.”
As a final note, although it’s troubling that the White House sees diplomacy as broadly inessential to U.S. interests, it’s heartening that both previous attempts by the Trump administration to cut State Department funds were rejected by lawmakers. They should do the same this time.
