Former President Trump slammed the Biden administration’s approach to China, warning that its current messaging to Beijing shows “such weakness.”
President Biden in September spoke by phone with Chinese President Xi Jinping for the second time. The White House said the president “made clear” that the discussion was “part of the United States’ ongoing effort to responsibly manage the competition between the United States and the PRC.”
After that call, the White House said that “the two leaders discussed the responsibility of both nations to ensure competition does not veer into conflict.” And since, White House officials have said they “welcome stiff competition” between the U.S. and China.
Trump, however, doesn’t think this strategy is working and the U.S. is at risk as a result.
“I don’t think it is a good way to express it to China,” he told Fox News. “It shows such weakness. We have shown such weakness.”
“China respected this country when I was president,” Trump continued. “China does not respect our country any more. It is very sad.”
He added: “And even that message – that’s not a good message. It’s not an appropriate message.”
During his administration, Trump in January 2020 signed a Phase 1 trade agreement with China, easing hostility between the world’s two largest economies amid decades of complaints that Beijing was manipulating its currency and stealing trade secrets from American firms.
That agreement included commitments from Beijing to halt intellectual property theft, refrain from currency manipulation, cooperate in financial services and purchase an additional $200 billion of U.S. products during 2020 and 2021.
The Biden administration, while engaging in “competition” with Beijing, has warned of the “reality” that China “has rapidly become more assertive” and is capable of “combining its economic, diplomatic, military and technological power to mount a sustained challenge to a stable and open international system.”
Officials have also warned that China is the “only competitor” potentially capable of mounting a “challenge” to the international system.
The CIA last month announced the formation of the China Mission Center to counter China.
CIA Director William Burns said the China Mission Center will address the challenges posed by the People’s Republic of China and emphasized that “the threat is from the Chinese government, not its people.”
Burns said the new mission center will bring “a whole-of-Agency response” and will “unify the exceptional work CIA is already doing against the key rival.”
Meanwhile, China is increasing their hostility towards the U.S. in the public eye. They recently constructed full-scale sized mockups of major U.S. warships, including an aircraft carrier, to use at a new target range complex as tensions between the U.S. and China continue to rise amid geopolitical issues in the South China Sea and responsibility for the coronavirus pandemic.
“The full-scale outline of a U.S. carrier and at least two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are part of the target range that has been built in the Ruoqiang region in central China. The site is near a former target range China used to test early versions of its so-called carrier killer DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missiles,” The U.S. Naval Institute reported.
“This new range shows that China continues to focus on anti-carrier capabilities, with an emphasis on U.S. Navy warships. Unlike the Iranian Navy’s aircraft carrier-shaped target in the Persian Gulf, the new facility shows signs of a sophisticated instrumented target range.”
When asked about the matter on Monday, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that “it’s been pretty, fairly obvious” that the U.S. is concerned about what China is doing.
“I think makes it very clear what our understanding of their intentions are, and their capabilities are. And how they’re developing those capabilities and to what ends,” Kirby said. “And clearly, they have invested a lot and particularly air and maritime capabilities that are designed largely to try to prevent the United States from having access to certain areas in the Indo-Pacific.”
Author: Dwayne Lewis
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