Former US policymakers offer suggestions for a new China strategy

A panel including former US trade representative Charlene Barshefsky and former US ambassador to China Winston Lord promotes joining a Pacific Rim trade pact

Other recommendations involve strengthening the US military presence in the Pacific and lowering restrictions to educational exchanges

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A panel of former US foreign-policy makers has issued a set of recommendations for a new China policy. Photo: AFP

Published: 5:48am, 15 Sep 2021Updated: 11:25pm, 15 Sep 2021

A panel of former US policymakers has urged Washington to join a Pacific Rim trade pact abandoned four years ago, pass legislation that would fund technology innovation and bolster educational exchange with China and other countries as part of a raft of measures needed to prevail in an increasingly confrontational relationship with Beijing.

The policymakers, including the former US trade representative Charlene Barshefsky, the former US ambassador to China Winston Lord and Evan Medeiros, a former National Security Council official – members of a largely bipartisan informal group called the “Task Force on US-China Policy” – announced their recommendations in an online discussion about their latest white paper, “China’s New Direction: Challenges and Opportunities for US Policy”.

The task force is co-chaired by Susan Shirk, a former deputy assistant secretary of state during the Clinton administration, and Orville Schell, director of the Asia Society’s Centre on US-China Relations.

“We believe the response to China should be to foster rather than diminish our open attractive and powerful innovation environment and US scientific dynamism,” Barshefsky said.

“The response to China should be to foster rather than diminish our open attractive and powerful innovation environment and US scientific dynamism,” says Charlene Barshefsky, a former United States trade representative. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

“In addition, the US should increase government funding for [research and development] in critical sectors … increase participation in tech standards bodies to influence the future rules of the road, enact immigration policies that cement the US as the most attractive destination for foreign talents, and work in concert with varying groups of like-minded countries,” she continued, citing the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).