The relations between the US and China under President Donald Trump have deteriorated, when Trumps administration labeled China a strategic competitor starting with the 2017 National Security Strategy. Then the U.S. Department of Justice initiated a China Initiative to combat economic espionage. It subsequently launched a trade war against China, banned US companies from selling equipment to Huawei and other companies linked to human rights abuses in Xinjiang, increased visa restrictions on Chinese nationality students and scholars, and designated China as a currency manipulator. During the Trump administration, and especially since the USChina trade war began, political observers have started to warn that a new cold war is emerging. In 2020 relations had deteriorated to the lowest point as both sides were recruiting allies to attack the other regarding guilt for the worldwide COVID19 pandemic.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS IN ASIA – PACIFIC Biden needs balance and engagement in Asia with China? Hà Nội, 2021 Biden needs balance and engagement in Asia with China? Author: ANU Press ANU Press is Australian's first open-access university press Their authors publish peerreviewed research on a broad range of topics including Asia and Pacific studies, Australian politics, humanities, arts, indigenous studies and science ANU Press is recognized by the Department of Industry as a commercial publisher, enabling ANU Press authors to gain full recognition under the Higher Education Research Data Collection scheme Main parts: - What did Trump and his administration during their tenure? + The United States vacated global leadership for four years and it was itself a source of uncertainty and instability + The US persisted with inequality and division magnified by failure to manage the response to the COVID-19 pandemic under President Trump + The US framed China as a strategic rival and start to decouple the economies + Mr Trump’s transactional, bilateral, divide and conquer approach to foreign policy led to the phase one trade deal with China that eschewed multilateral trade rules and norms The deal involved significant negative spillovers for the rest of the world as it diverted Chinese trade away from others like Australia towards US goods and gave special access to US companies in China that unilateral US sanctions had cut out for competitors from other countries - Biden and his administration are trying to reclaim global leadership: + President Joe Biden sent a clear message in his inauguration that his priority is to heal a divided United States of America + He went on to immediately sign a series of executive orders including one that has the United States rejoin the Paris climate agreement + Undoing the damage from four years of Donald Trump’s America First agenda + Outlined a strategy of working with allies to curb China’s assertive behaviour and restore balance and legitimacy to the Asian order Through Obama’s Asia pivot (later rebranded the Asia rebalance) + Mr Biden’s advisors are already finding the balance a challenge, letting it be known they are unhappy with the European Union for concluding an investment deal with China before the Biden administration was in place Biden-Harris administration would welcome early consultations with our European partners on our common concerns about China’s economic practices’ + Where a Biden administration will differ most is on how it engages allies and partners in its strategy - Chinese response + China already has a larger economy by some measures and is deeply integrated into the global economy + China is much too important to many countries around the world for their economic and political security It will become more important as a source of recovery from the pandemic and to East Asia in particular after the conclusion of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement + China used last-minute concessions to successfully pull the EU into a major bilateral investment agreement + The Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) between China and the European Union is ‘a positive development’ + Chinese President Xi Jinping has also signalled interest in joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would require fundamental reform to state-owned enterprises for any chance at Chinese membership Chinese reforms and opening up are unequivocally good for China and also for the global community Consequences and challenges in US-China relations: US CHINA - Under Trump’s administrative: few - China will be locked into more rules countries will have much appetite and markets through RCEP and the for being forced into a choice CAI between China and the United - If the CAI comes into force, the States European Union will succeed in locking in major Chinese reforms - Using an alliance of democracies or coalitions of the willing to counter and concessions, some of which Chinese assertiveness and curb extend beyond those that European Chinese behavior Biden will find investors will enjoy Chinese many willing partners But if those investors in Europe will gain coalitions not include certainty while European hosts can engagement with China on win-win still screen investments for security or positive sum issues like trade and purposes investment, the willing partners will be fewer - America under Biden will take on the China challenge with other countries but unless it finds ways to engage China that don’t damage the interests of allies and finds a way to give allies and partners space to engage with China on reasonable terms 3 Our opinion - - The relations between the US and China under President Donald Trump have deteriorated, when Trump's administration labeled China a "strategic competitor" starting with the 2017 National Security Strategy Then the U.S Department of Justice initiated a "China Initiative" to "combat economic espionage" It subsequently launched a trade war against China, banned US companies from selling equipment to Huawei and other companies linked to human rights abuses in Xinjiang, increased visa restrictions on Chinese nationality students and scholars, and designated China as a currency manipulator During the Trump administration, and especially since the US-China trade war began, political observers have started to warn that a new cold war is emerging In 2020 relations had deteriorated to the lowest point as both sides were recruiting allies to attack the other regarding guilt for the worldwide COVID19 pandemic The United States under Biden, We are already starting to see subtle signs that the Biden administration sees the US–China relationship in less binary terms than that of its predecessor While the Biden administration offers the possibility of a reset in US–China relations, powerful structural factors within the United States make it likely that zero-sum competition will continue to dominate its approach to China The combination of these political and economic forces will incentivise those who demonise China as the source of America’s economic woes and will make it politically difficult for the Biden administration to take policy positions that look ‘soft on China’ + First, we think the key is that the Biden team wants to be smart, methodical, coherent, and integrated in their approach – to think things through before launching To get “ready-aim-fire” in the right order That’s manifest in the decision to conduct a careful review of inherited China-related measures, including tariffs Related to that, I’d say they are determined to take adequate time to get the policies right I don’t mean to suggest that they are slow-walking engagement with China Rather that they are approaching engagement in a deliberate and measured way, focusing not only on the policy but on getting the sequence, level, and messaging right + Second, is President Biden’s determination to concentrate on domestic recovery and renewal, but this bears some clarification It does not mean that they are so consumed with domestic issues they don’t have the bandwidth to deal with foreign policy Among other things, this reflects President Biden’s understanding that in dealing with a Leninist, authoritarian system like the Chinese Communist Party, it is critically important to operate from a perceived position of strength And strength doesn’t mean chestthumping rhetoric and threats It doesn’t mean that we don’t acknowledge our own problems It means proving our resilience and showing that the U.S is getting back on track – that America is yet again demonstrating its amazing capacity to bounce back after a period of turbulence and disarray Question - What did the Biden administration to balance and cohesion in Asia with China? - In your opinion, will the US-China relations under the Biden administration be improved in the future? Why?