New U.S. administration signals focus on China

The new Trump administration sees China as a threat to U.S. security and warns against coercive actions in Asia. President Donald Trump has vowed repeatedly to push back against an aggressive China. In the next four years, the U.S. is expected to take a more hardline approach in its bilateral relationship with China.

On January 21, Trump said he will impose 10 percent tariffs on Chinese import from February 1 as a response to China’s failure to curb fentanyl exports into the U.S., which are fueling a domestic drug crisis. He said China is sending fentanyl to Canada and Mexico, from where it is being transported into the U.S.

Trump, in his inauguration speech on January 20, complained that “China is operating the Panama Canal”, which the U.S. handed over to Panama at the end of 1999. He has threatened to seize the canal, from which 40 percent of U.S. container traffic go through, and has not ruled out military force.

He said: “We have been treated very badly from this foolish gift that should have never been made. And Panama’s promise to us has been broken. The purpose of our deal and the spirit of our treaty has been totally violated. American ships are being severely overcharged and not treated fairly in any way, shape or form, and that includes the United States Navy.”

Trump reiterated: “The golden age of America begins right now. From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world. We will be the envy of every nation. And we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer.”

China hawk

On January 20, the U.S. Senate confirmed unanimously Marco Rubio, a China hawk and former senator of Florida, as secretary of state. He has taken hardline positions on China and was sanctioned, which include a travel ban to China, by the Chinese government twice in 2020 after he criticized Chinese human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. 

Rubio is a strong advocate of tougher policies to counter China’s aggression. On January 15 during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he said the Communist Party of China, which is governing entity, is “the most potent and dangerous near-peer adversary this nation has ever confronted.”

He continued: “They have elements that the Soviet Union never possessed. They are a technological adversary and competitor, an industrial competitor, an economic competitor, a geopolitical competitor, a scientific competitor now in every realm. It’s an extraordinary challenge. It’s one that I believe will define the 21st century.”

He added that “a dangerous imbalance is built up” in the U.S. – China relationship because for years, China has pretended to be a developing country and the U.S. has allowed “them to continue to cheat on trade and commerce” and to “continue to expand”. He also said China has lied about not militarizing and populating island chains in the South China Sea.

On the domestic front, Rubio said in order to confront China, the U.S. has “to rebuild our domestic industrial capacity, and we have to make sure that the United States is not reliant on any single other nation for any of our critical supply chains.”

He warned that if the U.S. does not change course, “in less than 10 years, virtually everything that matters to us in life will depend on whether China will allow us to have it or not. 

“Everything from the blood pressure medicine we take to what movies we get to watch and everything in between, we will depend on China for it. 

“They have come to dominate the critical mineral industry supplies throughout the world. Everywhere in the world, they’ve now established critical mineral rights. 

“Even those who want to see more electric cars, no matter where you make them, those batteries are almost entirely dependent on the ability of the Chinese and the willingness of the Chinese Communist Party to produce it and export it to you. 

“So, if we don’t change course, we are going to live in a world where much of what matters to us on a daily basis, from our security to our health, will be dependent on whether the Chinese allow us to have it or not. That’s an unacceptable outcome.”

Rubio reiterated that “while America too often prioritized the global order above our core national interest, other nations continued to act the way nations have always acted and always will: in what they perceive to be their best interest.  And instead of folding into the post-Cold War global order, they have manipulated it to serve their interests at the expense of ours.

“We welcomed the Chinese Communist Party into the global order, and they took advantage of all of its benefits and they ignored all of its obligations and responsibilities.  Instead, they have repressed and lied and cheated and hacked and stolen their way into global superpower status, and they have done so at our expense and at the expense of the people of their own country.”  

He warned: “The post-war global order is not just obsolete, it is now a weapon being used against us.”

U.S. Senator Jim Risch of Idaho, new chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations who assumed office on January 7, in his opening remarks at the confirmation hearing, said: “China remains the most significant long-term risk to the United States. 

“The Chinese government steals American intellectual property, floods our streets with fentanyl and exploits our free markets for its own gain while aggressively undermining American national security. 

“China is no longer satisfied to undermine the United States on its own, now it helps Russia, Iran, and North Korea. Chinese support has enabled Russia to carry on its illegal war against Ukraine, and China’s massive purchases of Iranian oil are a lifeline to that murderous regime’s proxy wars.”

Quad meeting

On January 21, in his first day as secretary of state, Rubio met with Quad ministers and reaffirmed the importance of a free and open Indo-Pacific. The four countries also concurred on promoting cooperation to strengthen regional maritime, economic, and technology security.

Quad, a strategic forum consisting of the U.S., India, Australia and Japan, is seen to have the objective of countering China’s increasing assertiveness and aggressiveness in the region. In a statement after the meeting, the four countries stated their “strong opposition to unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force including in the East and South China Seas.”

China claims almost the entirety of South China Sea. In 2016, China rejected an international arbitration ruling which stated it has no legal basis for the expansive claims. China refuses to accept this 2016 UNCLOS ruling, of which it is a State Party to UNCLOS, and dismissed the ruling as “nothing more than a piece of waste paper”.

China has built artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea, and installed missile systems and runways for fighter jets.

In recent months, there were numerous confrontations between China and the Philippines, primarily at the Second Thomas Shoal and Scarborough Shoal. Notably, Chinese ships were using water cannons and ramming against Filipino boats.

China regards democratically-governed Taiwan, which it has not rule before, as its own territory. China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under control.

Photo credit: iStock/ undefined undefined

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