Will Biden Finally Tackle China Correctly?

Photo by Adam Schultz is in the public domain.

In his first few days in office, President Joe Biden made one critical assertion that will likely define his foreign policy as America’s 46th President: “America is back.” Presumably, this avowal of the United States as a global powerhouse would involve the Biden administration tackling a number of issues and threats facing the nation, primarily China.

Under President Barack Obama’s eight years in office, America’s China policy was forgiving and slow, but at least somewhat organized. Obama began a “pivot to Asia,” was on the cusp of brokering the Trans-Pacific Partnership to make the United States more economically important to Asia and Latin America, and invested in alliances across Asia. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late; China was able to mount a massive military buildup and began to make and enforce illegitimate claims across the South China Sea. All the while, China has established itself as an alternate leader to the United States on the world stage.

As China’s government became more aggressive, violent, and even genocidal, President Donald Trump decided to make America “tough” on China. In addition to starting a trade war, Trump publicly confronted China on its brutal repression of Hong Kong’s liberties and finally declared that there is an ongoing genocide against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. Considering that the United States lost the trade war it began and Hong Kong and Xinjiang are suffering the abuses of the Chinese Communist Party’s iron grip, Trump’s strategies proved incredibly unsuccessful. In just four years, Trump’s erratic behavior and contentious foreign policies damaged America’s relationships worldwide. 

After eight years of Obama’s conscientious but somewhat meek approach and four years of Trump’s appropriately aggressive but erratic policy, the United States has failed to form an effective foreign policy to prevent the worst of China’s abuses. If anything, the past year showed China’s leadership that it is virtually unaccountable without the United States proactively checking them. Last year, China violated the borders of at least three other sovereign states, forcibly disappeared and imprisoned as many as three million people, ended any remaining autonomy of Hong Kong, hid the COVID-19 pandemic from the rest of the world in its early stages, hacked and stole sensitive information about thousands of U.S. federal employees, and arbitrarily imprisoned several Canadian and American citizens. These kinds of hostile actions that fly in the face of sovereignty and human rights are why it is so critical to resist Chinese aggression.

An example of effective unilateral action is the routine Freedom of Navigation missions that involve sailing by or flying over areas claimed by China to demonstrate that their encroachments are invalid. While they are unrelated to China, the recent airstrikes in Syria show that Biden is just as willing to act against an enemy as Trump was, but he is as rational as Obama—and that’s a good thing.

In line with his promise of “America is back,” some early moves by Biden suggest that he is aware of the gravity of the threat posed by China. On February 10, after a call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Biden set up a Pentagon task force on China and announced he would be keeping the Trump tariffs until a fair trade deal can be brokered. Overall, Biden believes that, left undeterred, China will “eat our lunch,” and he could not be more correct. This view is also reflected in Biden’s cabinet. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines addressed China’s “adversarial, predatory leadership” during her Senate hearing. These are all positive indications that the U.S. government is finally becoming responsive and ready to confront China. 

If Biden is committed to this new, driven but rational approach—as he should be—there are a number of ways he could try to reassert America on the world stage. First and foremost, America needs to get its own house in order. The January 6 insurrection makes it near impossible to claim the role of standard-bearer for democracy or stability. COVID-19 has also wreaked havoc on the American economy, which needs to be in shape to lure in trade and investment from countries that have the option of becoming economically closer to China. With the passage of new stimulus, the arrest of insurrectionists, and an impetus on unity, Biden has made steps towards stabilizing and strengthening America. 

Secondly, American allies require some reassurances, and America needs to rejoin the international institutions and alliances it used to lead. Trump’s isolationist streak has increased China’s trade, Iran is now more aggressive because of the cancelled deal, and allies are in need of backing they previously had from an active United States. The United States is still the strongest global power, a position only made possible with the support of Europe, Japan, Canada, and other allies. Biden has already made some progress in terms of reattaching the country to its allies and international organizations—the United States has rejoined the World Health Organization, the UN Human Rights Council, and the Paris Climate Accord. America is also working more closely with other Asian nations, most notably India, which is the world’s largest democracy and likely to be a future superpower. American allies will be receptive—the United States still has the GDP, military, and cultural influence to reassert itself. In the words of the British ambassador to the United States, Dame Karen Pierce, “It’s very striking how American leadership tends to define everything that happens, and without it everything tends to grind to a bit of a halt.”

Lastly, the United States cannot lose its ability to act unilaterally. Experts across the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community have repeatedly emphasized the need to be prepared for “Great Power competition.” Senior military leaders have admitted that the United States is woefully underprepared to defend against or conduct cyber warfare, a tool that China and Russia both rely on to gain an upper hand internationally. Trump’s refusal to increase the DOD’s budget in the way that his predecessors did set the United States up to be dangerously ill-equipped against modern, massive militaries, a mistake Biden can fix. The U.S. Navy still predominantly uses ships from the Cold War, whilst the Chinese Navy has 40 ships, including one aircraft carrier, planned or are under construction for deployment by 2025. Biden must not shy away from investing in America’s military, and he needs to be willing to act against China without broad international support.

Overall, it is clear that China is a threat. Biden needs to ensure that he does not let the American-led world order based on freedom and democracy decline as a result of Chinese growth and aggression. The Biden administration’s foreign policy can only succeed if it is methodical, aggressive, and coordinated.