US President Joe Biden’s pick to be ambassador to China drew sharp lines with Beijing over its “aggressive” actions in the Indo-Pacific region, but said that “American strength” gives the US key advantages in the relationship between the world’s two largest economies.
Nicholas Burns, a long-time diplomat who previously served as US ambassador to NATO and Greece, said that China has been the “aggressor” in its relationship with Taiwan, Vietnam, Japan and the Philippines.
He also said that he is skeptical about Chinese intentions on issues such as 5G technology, but he emphasized his view that the US has the upper hand.
Photo: Reuters
“Beijing proclaims that the East is rising and the West is in decline,” Burns said. “I’m confident in our own country. The People’s Republic of China is not an Olympian power.”
Burns singled out China’s frequent incursions of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone as particularly egregious, saying it is clear that “they intend to take back Taiwan” and that the US needs to redouble efforts to prevent that from happening.
“Our responsibility is to make Taiwan a tough nut to crack,” Burns said, while dismissing a suggestion that the US ditch its policy of “strategic ambiguity.”
“We’re better off, and we’ll be more effective, in staying with the one China policy of the last four decades,” he said, without clarifying its position on Taiwan’s sovereignty.
In Taipei yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs thanked the Biden administration for reiterating the US’ commitment to Taiwan.
The threatening posture that Beijing has adopted toward Taiwan is affecting regional security and stability, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said.
Many countries, including the US, have become increasingly alarmed by Beijing’s belligerence, Ou said, referring to what Burns had said at his confirmation hearing: “We certainly cannot trust the Chinese.”
Taiwan would continue to bolster its self-defense capabilities and safeguard its democracy, she added.
At a news briefing in Beijing, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) said that Burns’ remarks were “full of Cold War mentality,” urging him to “understand China in an objective manner” and not underestimate its determination to uphold its “legitimate rights.”
While Burns, 65, mentioned the importance of staying engaged with Beijing and finding common interests, his focus on areas of conflict won quick praise from US Republicans and Democrats on the committee as the hearing got under way.
The job of envoy to China “really demands a bipartisan approach,” said US Senator James Risch, the top Republican on the panel.
“You will be on the front lines of this competition,” Risch said.
Burns singled out the US’ network of alliances as one of the biggest advantages that it has when it comes to competing with China, which he said has few friends or allies to rely on.
In a rare aside for a Democrat in Washington, Burns even praised former US president Donald Trump and former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo for “reinvigorating” the Quad alliance with India, Japan and Australia, saying that it was an important bloc for the US in the Indo-Pacific region.
As a foreign service officer, Burns served as undersecretary of state for political affairs from 2005 to 2008, and also US ambassador to NATO from 2001 to 2005 and ambassador to Greece from 1997 to 2001.
He currently serves as a professor at Harvard Kennedy School.
Additional reporting by staff writer
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
RSS