In recent years, the confrontation with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has become a bipartisan consensus in the United States. US Ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, stated that the US and China have differences in multiple areas and will continue to maintain a competitive relationship in the “next decade.” He emphasized that the US will judge China based on its actions rather than its words.
During an interview with the US media outlet NBC News on Wednesday, Burns made the above remarks. The bilateral relationship hit its lowest point in decades last year after the US military shot down a suspected CCP spy balloon.
The tensions escalated in the South China Sea last month, leading to a video conference between US Indo-Pacific Command’s Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo and Southern Theater Command’s Commander Wu Yanan of the CCP. The aim was to stabilize the military relationship between the US and China and prevent miscalculations.
Burns noted the importance of having these communication channels but stressed that judgments should be made based on China’s actions, not just its words.
President Biden has retained and expanded many of former President Trump’s tariff policies against the CCP. The US-China competition has expanded into strategic areas crucial for national security, such as semiconductors, quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology.
The US accuses the CCP government of “overcapacity” in areas such as electric vehicles and solar panels, flooding overseas markets with cheap Chinese goods that undercut domestic competitors and pose a threat to global economic stability.
Burns believes that the relationship between the US and China has evolved beyond mere economic competition into a profound “structural competition” that will persist long-term, possibly extending into the next decade.
During Wednesday’s interview, Burns criticized the CCP’s military exercises near Taiwan last week. Apart from arming Taiwan, the Biden administration is also emphasizing strengthening relations with regional allies such as South Korea, Japan, and the Philippines to counter the CCP’s ambitions.
In a previous interview with Foreign Policy magazine last month, Burns pointed out that as the CCP government becomes increasingly assertive towards neighboring countries in the South China Sea and East China Sea, it is also implementing unprecedented modernization reforms within its military and secretly increasing its nuclear arsenal, actions that threaten US interests.
Referring to recent developments, Burns expressed concern over the CCP’s claim of neutrality in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine while contrarily taking actions that indicate otherwise. This poses a significant issue in the bilateral relationship.
The CCP has consistently portrayed itself as a neutral party in conflicts, claiming to have never provided weapons to Russia and strictly controlling the export of dual-use goods.
At the recent BRICS summit, Russian President Putin met with CCP leader Xi Jinping and signaled a deepening of cooperation between the two countries. Putin described the cooperation between Russia and China as a “paradigm of relations between states,” highlighting the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries. Xi Jinping emphasized the need to “deepen comprehensive strategic cooperation” and “jointly maintain global strategic stability.”
Sun Guoxiang, a professor of International Affairs and Business at Nanhua University in Taiwan, stated that the statements made by Putin and Xi not only emphasize bilateral cooperation but also send challenging signals to the US and its allies.
Burns highlighted that the “deepest differences” in the US-China relationship lie in their beliefs in human freedom and rights. Therefore, the US is critical of the situations in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong, as well as the lack of religious freedom in China.
In recent months, Biden administration officials and US congressional members have made frequent visits to China. Biden and Xi Jinping also had a face-to-face meeting in California last November and a phone conversation in April. Both sides agreed on the need to enhance people-to-people exchanges between the two countries in areas including academia, business, and tourism.
However, the reality seems different. Burns mentioned that following the Biden-Xi meeting, CCP security agencies attempted to thwart 94 events organized by US embassies to promote people-to-people exchanges. The CCP pressured Chinese citizens not to participate and intimidated those who had already attended.
Burns emphasized, “They (CCP) cannot have it both ways; you cannot say you want to promote people-to-people exchanges and actively hinder those exchanges.”