US President Joe Biden on Tuesday said he would not hesitate to defend the US’ interests against China after he ordered the downing of a suspected surveillance balloon, but kept the door open to cooperation.
In his State of the Union address to assembled lawmakers, many of whom have pressed for a hard line on China, Biden called for US investment in the military, technology and alliances to take on the country widely viewed as the chief US competitor.
“I’m committed to work with China where it can advance American interests and benefit the world,” Biden said.
Photo: AFP
“But make no mistake about it, as we made clear last week, if China threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our country — and we did,” he said to applause.
He said that “winning the competition” with China should unite Americans.
“I will make no apologies that we are investing to make America stronger — investing in American innovation, in industries that will define the future that China intends to be dominating,” he said.
Photo: US Navy Petty Officer First Class Tyler Thompson / US NAVY / AFP
Biden steered clear of hawkish language as he mentioned by name Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), whom he met at length in Indonesia in November last year.
He said he told Xi that “we seek competition, not conflict.”
China was one of the few foreign policy issues Biden mentioned in a more than one-hour speech that came as he prepares for a likely run for a second term.
He also promised long-term support for Ukraine, but made no mention of Iran, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, North Korea or this week’s devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
A US fighter jet on Saturday shot down what the Pentagon called a Chinese surveillance balloon after it crossed into the Atlantic Ocean, with the military saying it waited until a point when the debris could not hurt people on the ground.
The episode led US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to postpone a visit to Beijing aimed at reducing tensions as he accused China of violating US sovereignty.
Blinken said that he sought to maintain communication with China, but at the Pentagon, a spokesman on Tuesday said that China rebuffed a request to speak.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin requested a secure call with Chinese Minister of National Defense General Wei Fenghe (魏鳳和) immediately after the balloon was shot down, Brigadier General Pat Ryder said.
“Unfortunately, the PRC [People’s Republic of China] has declined our request. Our commitment to open lines of communication will continue,” Ryder said.
China says the balloon was an errant weather observation aircraft with no military purpose, but Washington has described it as a sophisticated high-altitude spying vehicle that reportedly traversed over several top-secret military sites.
Austin and Wei met in Cambodia in November last year as Washington and Beijing sought to lower the temperature after a visit to Taiwan by then-US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi that enraged China.
General Glen VanHerck, commander of the US Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said a naval ship would map the debris field left by the balloon, which is expected to measure about 1,500m by 1,500m in the Atlantic.
The balloon itself was up to 60m tall and carried a payload weighing several thousand kilograms that was about the size of a regional jet aircraft, he said.
VanHerck said the balloon debris would be carefully studied.
“I don’t know where the debris is going to go for a final analysis, but I will tell you that certainly the intel community along with the law enforcement community that works this under counterintelligence will take a good look at it,” he said.
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