After Joe Biden, erroneously berated Donald Trump over his policies, it seems that his picks for Secretary of State and the Defence Secretary don’t agree with him. Antony Blinken, and Lloyd J. Austin before their conformation ceremony, made their views very clear that they believed that Trump was ‘right.’
During the Presidential race, Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump put China as the main issue. Biden attacked Trump for compromising American position throughout his election campaign, doling out promises to reverse Trump’s policies. He must reconsider now as his picks for Secretary of State and the Defence Secretary have just reaffirmed those policies and intend to enact on them. It is a welcome change to listen to Democrats who understand the contemporary situation globally and are not stuck in a cold war with the ‘Soviets’ 30 years ago.
Joe Biden’s nominee for State Secretary Antony Blinken said on Tuesday that he felt that Mr Donald Trump was right to tackle China more robustly, even though he did not support all his tactics. He also supported the assessment that China was committing genocide in Xinjiang.
Blinken said at the Confirmatory Hearing at the Senate that China was “no doubt” the main challenge for the United States among any and every nation and that he believed that the basis for building a bipartisan strategy to counter Beijing was very strong.
While China attacked Mike Pompeo and called him a “doomsday clown”, Blinken approved of Pompeo’s message by saying “That would be my message as well,” when asked whether he agreed with Pompeo’s assessment that China was committing genocide.
“I think we’re very much in agreement,” he added, “The forcing of men, women and children into concentration camps; trying to, in effect, re-educate them to be adherents to the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party, all of that speaks to an effort to commit genocide.”
Then, in what would sound like a rehash of Trump’s policies of banning goods from Xinjiang, Blinken further said, “I think we should be looking at making sure that we are not importing products that are made with forced labour from Xinjiang … we need to make sure that we’re also not exporting technologies and tools that could be used to further their repression. That’s one place to start.”
Even on Taiwan, Blinken followed the standard route that has been set for decades but only recently and quite forcefully enforced by Taiwan. He said that Biden administration would ensure that self-ruled Taiwan can defend itself (from Chinese aggression).
Moreover, Blinken spoke in favour of Trump’s streamlining official visits to Taiwan too. Blinken said that he was also in favour of greater engagement with Taipei.
He stated, “I want to see that process through to conclusion if it hasn’t been completed, to make sure that we’re acting pursuant to the mandate in the (Taiwan Assurance) act that looks at creating more space for contacts.”
On the other hand, Lloyd J Austin during ‘his’ senate confirmation hearing said that he will operationalise India’s “major defence partner” status and build upon the existing US-India co-operation and enhance the Quad security dialogue among other regional multilateral engagements.
Austin also reiterated Blinken and said that while Russia and China both pose a danger, China is a top priority for the United States now.
Biden, throughout his election campaign (should be called a smear campaign), was instigating the fact that Trump’s policies had made US weaker in the political arena and now his senior-most diplomats are echoing the words of Donald Trump.
Blinken and Austin’s tectonic shift echoes the realities of today’s international arena. There could be no doubt or second thoughts about it that China is the number one threat of the United States and Trump’s rigid stance on China was correct.
TFI had previously reported in detail, why Biden would be unable to shun Trump’s policies as he had been claiming to. Trump was always a step ahead, the characteristics of a great statesman. His policies seem to have struck a chord with Biden’s Secretary of State even before his Senate confirmation hearing. Trump might be away from the White House for now, but Trumpism shall dictate the discourse of America’s foreign policy for years to come and Blinken’s admittance is just a start.
