Top adviser to Joe Biden says US plans to shift foreign policy to prioritise China
- Jake Sullivan, national security adviser, says Washington must repair relations with allies to build leverage against Beijing
- ‘China is right at the top of the list of things that we’ve got to work together on,’ he says
The Biden administration plans on responding quickly and decisively to China’s increasingly assertive and bellicose policies toward Hong Kong, Taiwan, Xinjiang and beyond, the top US national security official said on Friday – building leverage by addressing significant US shortcomings and strained alliance to counter Beijing from a position of strength.
In his first major foreign policy address since taking office, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that one of the best ways to push back against China is to set a good example.
“They‘re pointing to dysfunction and division in the United States and saying, ‘Take a look at that, their system doesn’t work. Our system does,’” Sullivan said at an event sponsored by the non-partisan United States Institute of Peace.
“Step one is … to refurbish the fundamental foundations of our democracy. That goes for everything from our democratic system itself, to issues of racial inequity, to issues of economic inequality, all of the things that have contributed to the shine coming off the American model.”
Other priorities under the new administration’s China strategy include government investment for artificial intelligence, biotechnology, clean energy and other technology sectors China hopes to dominate as well as ensuring that the Defence, State and other departments speak and act with consistency, he added.