US watchers in Beijing urge closer look at Biden’s tough new ‘China hands’
- Washington’s strategic shift to ‘target China’ almost in place, US affairs experts tell official think tank seminar
- With Biden forecasting ‘extreme competition’, scholars urge understanding of new faces formulating China policy in Washington
President Joe Biden may have all pieces in place to “target” Beijing, Chinese experts on US affairs have warned, urging renewed understanding of a new crop of young, professional and “tough” White House “China hands”.
And while Washington could still be in the transition period for this strategic policy shift, the key institutional adjustments needed were nearing completion, warned Fan Jishe, a professor at the Central Party School, the Chinese Communist Party’s top cadre-training and policy advice academy.
The Biden administration’s new strategy to target China mainly focused on four areas, Fan said – building domestic consensus; stepping up diplomatic, military, economic alliances; institutionalising new policy directions; and fostering new talent.
“Washington has basically completed forming consensus on what people think about China across political parties, think tanks, within the government and the public,” Fan told a seminar organised by the American Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, an official think tank.
“The only group that is still not entirely aligned are the business interest groups … but they are now largely a silent group.”