{"id":219073,"date":"2025-01-19T13:19:13","date_gmt":"2025-01-19T13:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/19\/biden-made-a-global-push-to-constrain-china-what-will-trump-do\/"},"modified":"2025-01-19T13:19:14","modified_gmt":"2025-01-19T13:19:14","slug":"biden-made-a-global-push-to-constrain-china-what-will-trump-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/19\/biden-made-a-global-push-to-constrain-china-what-will-trump-do\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden Made a Global Push to Constrain China. What Will Trump Do?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/18\/multimedia\/18DC-BIDEN-CHINA1-pqzc\/18DC-BIDEN-CHINA1-pqzc-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Biden Made a Global Push to Constrain China. What Will Trump Do?\" title=\"Biden Made a Global Push to Constrain China. What Will Trump Do?\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">President Biden and his aides came into office with deep experience in trans-Atlantic affairs. But over four years, they focused too on the Pacific, where China strains to be the dominant player. Their main effort: building up <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/12\/26\/us\/politics\/biden-allies-foreign-policy.html\" title=\"\">alliances<\/a> to counter China.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">President-elect Donald J. Trump has already signaled a different approach to China. He <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/trump-invites-china-xi-jinping-inauguration\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">invited<\/a> Xi Jinping, China\u2019s leader, to his inauguration on Monday. The two spoke by phone on Friday, and Mr. Xi <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/2025\/01\/17\/china-donald-trump-inauguration\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">is sending<\/a> China\u2019s vice president, Han Zheng, to the ceremony, a break from China\u2019s tradition of having its ambassador in Washington attend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Biden administration\u2019s final activities aimed at China stand in contrast to that. Mr. Biden <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/statements-releases\/2025\/01\/12\/readout-of-president-bidens-call-with-prime-minister-ishiba-of-japan-and-president-marcos-of-the-philippines\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">held a call<\/a> last Sunday with the leaders of Japan and the Philippines to firm up a new <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/08\/19\/world\/asia\/china-biden-camp-david.html\" title=\"\">three-way security arrangement<\/a> he helped build. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/06\/world\/asia\/south-korea-blinken-democracy-alliance.html\" title=\"\">visited<\/a> South Korea and Japan this month on his final official trip.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the telling of Mr. Biden and his aides, they are handing Mr. Trump a sharpened competitive edge on China, the greatest rival to the United States.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Of all of Mr. Biden\u2019s foreign policies, his approach to China could ultimately be seen by historians as existing in a continuum. His administration built its own structure on a foundation of competition laid by Mr. Trump\u2019s team and is now turning it over.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It is unclear what Mr. Trump will do with that. He admires the autocratic Mr. Xi, and sees China mainly through the lens of economic negotiations. Mr. Trump\u2019s billionaire advisers, including <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/15\/world\/middleeast\/musk-italy-iran-prisoner-exchange.html\" title=\"\">Elon Musk<\/a>, want to maintain and perhaps expand business dealings with China.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But his <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/11\/20\/us\/politics\/trump-cabinet-china-policy.html\" title=\"\">top picks<\/a> for foreign policy aides are more aligned with Mr. Biden: They <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/15\/us\/politics\/marco-rubio-senate-hearing-takeaways.html\" title=\"\">assert<\/a> that the United States must constrain China across many dimensions, and using the entire range of security and economic tools.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">One early test will be whether Mr. Trump enforces a ban of TikTok, the Chinese social media app popular with young Americans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Biden signed bipartisan legislation last year to ban TikTok based on national security concerns unless its parent company, ByteDance, sold it to investors not tied to a \u201cforeign adversary.\u201d ByteDance still owns TikTok, and the White House <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/statements-releases\/2025\/01\/17\/statement-by-white-house-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-regarding-tiktok\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">announced on Friday<\/a> that it would be up to Mr. Trump to enact the ban. Mr. Trump said Saturday that he <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/trump-likely-give-tiktok-90-day-extension-avoid-ban-rcna188258\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">would likely give TikTok<\/a> a 90-day reprieve from the ban, and the company\u2019s chief executive plans to attend his inauguration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump\u2019s signature China policy in his first term was placing tariffs on some Chinese goods. Mr. Biden and his aides kept those while expanding policy along three major prongs: strengthening alliances and creating new security partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region; limiting technology exports to China; and jump-starting industrial policy in the United States.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In short, Mr. Biden sought to turn China policy into global policy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">During Mr. Biden\u2019s tenure, already-tense relations plummeted when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, the de facto independent island that China claims as its territory, and a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/02\/15\/us\/politics\/balloon-ufo-us-china.html\" title=\"\">Chinese spy balloon<\/a> drifted over the United States. But his team scrambled to restart high-level communications, including between the two militaries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The United States and China \u201care competing, obviously competing vigorously, and yet still the relationship has an element of stability so that we\u2019re not presently on the brink of a downward spiral,\u201d Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/19\/us\/politics\/jake-sullivan-china.html\" title=\"\">said in an interview<\/a> in a West Wing conference room.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThat is a significant evolution over four years for how the relationship is managed on both sides,\u201d he added, using the acronym for the People\u2019s Republic of China. The Chinese Communist Party, he said, has now accepted the Biden team\u2019s framing of \u201cmanaged competition\u201d for the relationship.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Biden administration was animated by the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brookings.edu\/articles\/the-long-game-chinas-grand-strategy-to-displace-american-order\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">idea<\/a> that China <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Biden-Harris-Administrations-National-Security-Strategy-10.2022.pdf\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">wants to displace the United States<\/a> as the world\u2019s dominant power, said Rush Doshi, a China director who served on the National Security Council earlier in the Biden administration. Many Republican lawmakers and policymakers share that view.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Coming into office, Mr. Biden and his aides saw huge gaps in critical areas, including the U.S. defense industrial base, Mr. Sullivan said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The administration set up two \u201cbig tent poles\u201d of policy, as he put it: investments aimed at rejuvenating American manufacturing, technology innovation and supply chains; and investments in alliances and partnerships, \u201cso that we broaden China strategy to really be a regional and global strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Sullivan pointed to alliances not only in Asia, but in Europe as well. Mr. Biden\u2019s team helped persuade European nations to back away from some commercial agreements with China, and NATO to make stronger pronouncements on China and to signal support for Taiwan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">China\u2019s partnership with Russia during President Vladimir V. Putin\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has helped push the Europeans in that direction, as have China\u2019s cyberespionage efforts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But the trans-Atlantic allies have not gone as far as the United States in viewing China as a threat. Some European politicians still prioritize trade relations with China, the world\u2019s second-largest economy. And Mr. Trump\u2019s <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/08\/world\/europe\/blinken-france-trump.html\" title=\"\">antagonizing of European nations<\/a> could jeopardize the Biden administration\u2019s work.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Moreover, U.S. allies could run into the arms of China if Mr. Trump makes good on his threat to impose universal tariffs even on them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump also says allies are leeching off the U.S. military, and that they must pay the United States for protection or fend for themselves. In Asia, this thinking would apply to Japan, South Korea and the Philippines, as well as to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/10\/05\/us\/politics\/taiwan-biden-weapons-china.html\" title=\"\">Taiwan<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Biden administration has had the opposite attitude. In creating <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/08\/18\/us\/politics\/biden-japan-south-korea-sum.html\" title=\"\">a web of new security agreements<\/a> among U.S. allies in Asia, it tried to make their militaries more intertwined with each other and with that of the United States \u2014 which, according to Mr. Biden\u2019s team, would help deter China.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Biden also moved to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2024\/04\/26\/us\/politics\/us-china-military-bases-weapons.html\" title=\"\">bolster the military capacities<\/a> of several allies and the U.S. military presence in Asia: sending Tomahawk missiles to Japan; working with Britain to start equipping Australia with nuclear submarine technology, and the submarines themselves; and expanding the U.S. military\u2019s access to Philippine bases near Taiwan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In private conversations in Washington, Chinese officials complained that it was a policy of containment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A central question, difficult to answer and relevant for Mr. Trump\u2019s team, is whether the Biden administration struck the right balance between deterrence and provocation. Is China accelerating its military buildup, and is it becoming more aggressive in the region, because of the American moves in its backyard?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Beijing took notice when Mr. Biden said on four separate occasions that the U.S. military <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/05\/23\/world\/asia\/biden-taiwan-china.html\" title=\"\">would defend Taiwan<\/a> in the event of a Chinese invasion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-10\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Jessica Chen Weiss, a professor at Johns Hopkins University who worked briefly in the State Department under Mr. Blinken, noted that the administration\u2019s policies didn\u2019t ignite conflict, and that some of its diplomacy helped.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt was able to avoid the extremes,\u201d she said. \u201cWhether or not that muddling through was ambitious enough to arrest the underlying tendencies remains to be seen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In summits, Mr. Xi directly criticized a signature Biden policy that Chinese officials insist is part of the containment effort: <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/10\/13\/us\/politics\/biden-china-technology-semiconductors.html\" title=\"\">export controls<\/a> imposed on advanced semiconductor chips, including the kind needed for developing artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After rolling out the first tranche in 2022, Mr. Sullivan <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/speeches-remarks\/2023\/04\/27\/remarks-by-national-security-advisor-jake-sullivan-on-renewing-american-economic-leadership-at-the-brookings-institution\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">described it<\/a> as a policy of keeping \u201cfoundational technologies\u201d out of the hands of rivals by establishing a \u201csmall yard, high fence.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-11\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some experts argue the policy <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foreignaffairs.com\/united-states\/how-americas-war-chinese-tech-backfired\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">has backfired<\/a> and has actually pushed China to accelerate innovation. And the less Chinese companies rely on American technology, the less leverage the United States has over China, they say.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Sullivan said that criticism \u201cgets the chronology wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cOur semiconductor export controls were actually a reaction to China\u2019s very overtly, very systematically stated policy that they were going to indigenize their semiconductor manufacturing capability,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some former officials point to other policy shortcomings. Ryan Hass, a China director on President Barack Obama\u2019s National Security Council, listed three: Mr. Biden and his team lacked a serious trade agenda for Asia, appeared timid in dealing with China, and seemed more comfortable interacting with advanced democracies on China policy than with developing nations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But overall, he said, the policy worked: \u201cAmerica is in a stronger competitive position vis-\u00e0-vis China than it was when Biden entered office.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/19\/us\/politics\/biden-trump-china.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Biden and his aides came into office with deep experience in trans-Atlantic affairs. But over four years, they focused too on the Pacific, where China strains to be the dominant player. Their main effort: building up alliances to counter China. President-elect Donald J. Trump has already signaled a different approach to China. He invited [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/18\/multimedia\/18DC-BIDEN-CHINA1-pqzc\/18DC-BIDEN-CHINA1-pqzc-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[45,168,139541,172455,170355,137233,163575,171453,172456,51412,377,128438,163751,4759,172457,52,128437,2762],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219073"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219073"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":219075,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219073\/revisions\/219075"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}