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WASHINGTON: A top American diplomat nominated to be Washington’s ambassador to Beijing described China as an aggressor against India and other Indo-Pacific nations at a confirmation hearing where US lawmakers urged the Biden administration to counter what they called the greatest security threat to the United States and its partners.
“Beijing has been an aggressor against India along their Himalayan border; against Vietnam, the Philippines, and others in the South China Sea; against Japan in the East China Sea; and has launched an intimidation campaign against Australia,” ambassador designate to China Nicholas Burns told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in unusually blunt terms for a nominated envoy who typically head out on a friendly tone.
Burns, a career diplomat who was part of the team that worked on the US-India nuclear deal, said Washington must hold the Chinese government accountable for failing to play by the rules and challenge China where it must, including when Beijing takes actions that run counter to America’s values and interests, threatens the security of the United States or its allies and partners, or undermine the rules-based international order.
Among other steps he recommended to counter China was shoring up US alliances in the Indo-Pacific region by placing faith in US diplomacy and inherent American strengths.
Amid a partial meltdown in some US quarters over China’s rapid global ascent and its perceived belligerence, Burns took a more measured view, maintaining that Washington, with help from its allies and partners, could manage China’s rise. While acknowledging China’s “extraordinary strength,” he said it is not an “Olympian power” and it has substantial weaknesses and challenges politically, economically and demographically.
“We ought not to exaggerate their strengths, or underestimate the strengths of the United States,” Burns said, talking up global “confidence in our business community, in our innovation community, in our universities, in our ability to attract the best students from around the world, confidence in our unmatched military.”
Burns also walked a delicate line on Taiwan, endorsing Washington’s One-China policy that acknowledges China’s claim of sovereignty over Taiwan while suggesting the US, including both Congress and the executive branch has “enormous latitude under the Taiwan Relations Act to deepen our security assistance to Taiwan.”
“Given what China’s done, given China’s frankly objectionable statements towards Taiwan, I think the Congress and the executive branch have every right to continue to deepen our security cooperation, to expand our arms provisions to Taiwan, that’s the most important thing we can do,” Burns said. He also emphasized the importance of maintaining US military presence in Asia, including in Japan and Korea, as a means to deter Chinese aggression.
The US has not had an ambassador in China for almost a year amid deteriorating ties with Beijing following the coronavirus pandemic. Burns is considered a shoo-in for confirmation even as President Biden’s ambassadorial nominee for India, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is awaiting a hearing date.
“Beijing has been an aggressor against India along their Himalayan border; against Vietnam, the Philippines, and others in the South China Sea; against Japan in the East China Sea; and has launched an intimidation campaign against Australia,” ambassador designate to China Nicholas Burns told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in unusually blunt terms for a nominated envoy who typically head out on a friendly tone.
Burns, a career diplomat who was part of the team that worked on the US-India nuclear deal, said Washington must hold the Chinese government accountable for failing to play by the rules and challenge China where it must, including when Beijing takes actions that run counter to America’s values and interests, threatens the security of the United States or its allies and partners, or undermine the rules-based international order.
Among other steps he recommended to counter China was shoring up US alliances in the Indo-Pacific region by placing faith in US diplomacy and inherent American strengths.
Amid a partial meltdown in some US quarters over China’s rapid global ascent and its perceived belligerence, Burns took a more measured view, maintaining that Washington, with help from its allies and partners, could manage China’s rise. While acknowledging China’s “extraordinary strength,” he said it is not an “Olympian power” and it has substantial weaknesses and challenges politically, economically and demographically.
“We ought not to exaggerate their strengths, or underestimate the strengths of the United States,” Burns said, talking up global “confidence in our business community, in our innovation community, in our universities, in our ability to attract the best students from around the world, confidence in our unmatched military.”
Burns also walked a delicate line on Taiwan, endorsing Washington’s One-China policy that acknowledges China’s claim of sovereignty over Taiwan while suggesting the US, including both Congress and the executive branch has “enormous latitude under the Taiwan Relations Act to deepen our security assistance to Taiwan.”
“Given what China’s done, given China’s frankly objectionable statements towards Taiwan, I think the Congress and the executive branch have every right to continue to deepen our security cooperation, to expand our arms provisions to Taiwan, that’s the most important thing we can do,” Burns said. He also emphasized the importance of maintaining US military presence in Asia, including in Japan and Korea, as a means to deter Chinese aggression.
The US has not had an ambassador in China for almost a year amid deteriorating ties with Beijing following the coronavirus pandemic. Burns is considered a shoo-in for confirmation even as President Biden’s ambassadorial nominee for India, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is awaiting a hearing date.
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