Follow us on social

2023-03-01t004108z_115845616_mt1sipa0007ysa0a_rtrmadp_3_sipa-usa-scaled

GOP to Biden officials: Diplomacy and trade with China a ‘sign of weakness’

Members of select committee on CCP hammer administration on policy toward Beijing.

Asia-Pacific

Republican members of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party used much of their time during a hearing Thursday to accuse Biden officials of “weakness” for their willingness to engage with China, both diplomatically and economically.

The charges focused in part on the recent visits to China by prominent senior officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and climate envoy John Kerry. The members of  the select committee grilled three officials from three key agencies on the administration’s policy toward Beijing — the Pentagon’s Ely Ratner, the State Department’s Daniel Kritenbrink, and Thea Rozman Kendler from the Commerce Department.  The primary lines of attack, according to Jake Werner, a research fellow focusing on U.S-China relations at the Quincy Institute were an “intense anxiety about the health of US society blamed on China” and  “posing all issues in the relationship as zero-sum and therefore demanding confrontation.”

Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) was concerned with the fact that leadership in Washington, and not their Chinese counterparts, were the ones pushing for these meetings.

“When was the last time the PRC requested a meeting with a senior U.S. official?” Gimenez asked. “The point I’m trying to make is that we continue to be asking for all these high-level meetings with high-level officials in China. We continue to do that…. Doesn’t it seem to you like that might be looked at around the world as a sign of weakness?” 

Some Democratic members pushed back at this characterization, with Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) saying that he was “pretty alarmed” by the current discourse on the Hill surrounding speaking with China and Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) lamenting the “concerning false equivalency between diplomacy and weakness” during the hearing. 

Republican members argued that not only was diplomacy a sign of weakness, but so too is trade, with two calling for the end of all trade with China moving forward. While questioning Rozman Kendler on why the U.S. continues to trade with Beijing, Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.) said “we’ve got to stop everything going to China,” because a “willingness to be a partner with them endangers us down the road.” 

In terms of Taiwan, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) argued in favor of the One China policy, saying that the United States can “assist Taiwan, as many [in Congress] want to, (...) but still affirm the One China policy architected by Dr. [Henry] Kissinger,” and that Blinken had been “appropriate” in saying that during his recent visit. 

In response, Kritenbrink affirmed that there had been “absolutely no change to the One China policy.” 

“The dispute over Taiwan is only the most dangerous in a long list of zero-sum economic and military tensions between the US and China that are pushing the two toward conflict. For the Biden administration’s belated turn to diplomacy with China to succeed, it will need to move beyond communication for its own sake,” Werner said in comments before the hearing.

“The two powers must focus on addressing urgent common interests like climate, global development, and global governance reform—redirecting their efforts from exacerbating zero-sum economic and military dynamics to working jointly on overcoming them.”


Representative Mike Gallagher (R-WI), Committee Chair, questions witnesses during a House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party hearing on the CCP’s threat to America, at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, February 28, 2023. (Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA)No Use Germany.
Asia-Pacific
George Simion Romania
Top photo credit: Bucharest, Romania. 13th Jan, 2025: George Simion (C), the leader of the nationalist Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) lead the rally against the annulment of the presidential elections (LCV/Shutterstock)

he presidential elections

A nationalist bucks pro-EU status quo, wins big in Romania

Europe

The head of Romania’s “sovereigntist” camp, George Simion won Romania’s first round presidential race on Sunday with 41% of the vote in a field of 11 candidates.

Simion leads the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) party, the leading opposition force in parliament. Simion — who as president would have substantial powers in the realm of foreign and security policy — supports Romania’s NATO commitments, but is not an enthusiastic supporter of sending further military aid to Ukraine. His victory could strengthen the dissident camp on this issue within the EU.

keep readingShow less
Alex Karp
Top image credit: Alex Karp, the Hill & Valley Forum via screen grab/youtube.com/@TheHillandValleyForum

Tech bros go to Washington: Coders want in on the kill chain

Military Industrial Complex

Silicon Valley’s elite traded hoodies for Hill passes last week and planted their flag in Washington.

During a nearly 12-hour marathon Hill and Valley Forum in the Capitol Building, star-studded venture capitalists, defense technologists, and allied policymakers congratulated themselves on the promising start to the military application of artificial intelligence and autonomous weapons in the era of Trump 2.

keep readingShow less
Hezbollah
Top photo credit: Flags of Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon (Shutterstock/crop media)
Flags of Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon (Shutterstock/crop media)

Hezbollah to US: It's not in your interest to support Israeli attacks

Middle East

The Secretary-General of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, Sheikh Naim Qassem, recently asserted that continued instability in Lebanon does not serve U.S. interests.

Qassem made the remarks following an Israeli airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs which Israel claimed had targeted a Hezbollah weapons depot.

keep readingShow less

LATEST

QIOSK

Newsletter

Subscribe now to our weekly round-up and don't miss a beat with your favorite RS contributors and reporters, as well as staff analysis, opinion, and news promoting a positive, non-partisan vision of U.S. foreign policy.