US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in a telephone conversation with Yang Jiechi, head of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, said that Washington intends to "hold Beijing accountable" for the actions of the PRC in a number of areas.
This is stated in a message released by the State Department.
“The Secretary of State reaffirmed that the United States will work with its allies and partners to safeguard our shared values and interests to hold the PRC accountable for actions that threaten stability in the Indo-Pacific region, particularly in the Taiwan Strait, and undermine the international system. based on rules, ”the message says.
In addition, Blinken said the United States will "continue to uphold democratic values and human rights" in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong.
Also, the head of the State Department called on Beijing to join the international community and condemn the recent military coup in Myanmar.
In response, Yang Jiechi called on Washington not to interfere in the internal affairs of the PRC.
“The US must strictly abide by the One China Principle and the three Sino-US Joint Communiqués.
The affairs of Xianggang (Hong Kong. -
RT
), Xinjiang and Tibet are the internal affairs of China, the intervention of any external forces is not allowed.
China will resolutely defend its sovereignty, security and development interests, ”Jiechi was quoted as saying by the Xinhua News Agency.
Region of tension
The Indo-Pacific region in recent years has become a zone of confrontation between the United States and China in several directions at once.
One of them is Taiwan - the PRC authorities consider the island to be an inseparable part of the country and perceive any foreign presence in the region as an encroachment on the territorial integrity of China.
In turn, the United States regularly sends warships to the Taiwan Strait and conducts joint exercises with the island's armed forces as part of the so-called freedom of navigation operations.
During the Donald Trump administration, the number of such operations peaked - the newspaper The Japan Times notes that in 2020, American warships entered the strait at least 15 times.
American and Australian ships in the South China Sea
Reuters
© Petty Officer 3rd Class Nicholas Huynh / US Navy
These operations continued in 2021.
So, on February 4, the destroyer USS John McCain passed through the Taiwan Strait.
This passage was the first under the Joe Biden administration, according to a report on the website of the United States Naval Institute (USNI).
At the same time, the command of the 7th Fleet of the US Navy stressed that such actions will continue in the future.
“The passage of the destroyer through the Taiwan Strait is a testament to the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
The United States Armed Forces will continue to pass aircraft, ships and operate wherever permitted by international law, ”the USNI said in a statement from the US Navy.
In turn, China said it closely watched the passage of the US Navy ship and was ready to resist any provocations.
"China will continue to be on high alert, we are ready to resist any threats and provocations, as well as to resolutely defend our national sovereignty and territorial integrity," Xinhua quoted the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin as saying.
In addition to the Taiwan issue, tensions remain between the United States and China due to the territorial claims of the PRC against the ASEAN countries, which dispute the ownership of the Paracel Islands and the Spratly archipelago in the South China Sea.
The ownership of the Paracel Islands is disputed among themselves by China, Taiwan and Vietnam, and China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and the Philippines claim the Spratly archipelago.
The United States itself is not a party to the dispute and does not claim the islands, but actively supports its regional partners in ASEAN.
As in the case of Taiwan, Washington regularly dispatches naval ships to the South China Sea, declaring its commitment to the principle of free navigation in the area.
It should be noted that these islands are located close to important sea transport routes, and large reserves of hydrocarbons have been discovered on their shelf.
Containment Conductors
Speaking at the State Department on February 4, Joe Biden raised the issue of US-China relations, describing Beijing as Washington's top rival and challenging America's prosperity and security.
Biden also added that the United States perceives China as a violator of rules in the economic sphere, but stressed that Washington is ready to cooperate with the PRC if it is in the interests of the United States.
The American media note that there are experts on Asia in the Biden administration who will pursue a tough foreign policy towards the PRC.
In particular, CNBC drew attention to the fact that Kurt Campbell, who served as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific under Barack Obama and who is credited with the strategy of "turning to Asia ".
But now the former assistant's rhetoric has changed.
US President Joe Biden
Reuters
© Kevin Lamarque
In a mid-January article for Foreign Affairs, Campbell noted that "a combination of Chinese assertiveness and American indecision has led to instability" in the Indo-Pacific region.
“At the moment, the Indo-Pacific region resembles pre-war Europe - the balance of power is upset there, order is weakening, and there is no obvious coalition that could solve the problem.
If the next US administration wants to preserve the functioning of the region, ensuring peace and unprecedented prosperity, it needs to start by looking at each of these trends in turn, ”the official said.
To counter China militarily in the region, the United States needs to ditch costly and vulnerable aircraft carriers and invest more in cruise and ballistic missiles and submarines, Campbell said.
In addition, the United States should more actively participate in regional summits and enhance cooperation with the countries of the region, he stressed.
In turn, Catherine Tai, whom Biden had nominated to replace Robert Lighthizer as US Trade Representative, voiced her position on China.
“We face fierce competition from a growing, ambitious China.
And China's economy is governed by central planning bodies that are not subject to pressure from political pluralism, democratic elections or public opinion, ”said Tai.
We will remind, Donald Trump initiated a trade war with China because of too large, in his words, a trade deficit.
The main instrument of Washington was the increase in import duties on Chinese goods.
In July 2018, the US authorities imposed duties of 25% on the import of 818 types of products from China in the amount of $ 34 billion per year.
In January 2020, the United States and China entered into an agreement on the so-called first phase of the trade deal.
According to the agreements, in two years, Beijing should increase the purchase of American goods by $ 200 billion, which, as expected in Washington, will significantly reduce the trade imbalance.
Earlier, Joe Biden said that he was not going to cancel the tariffs imposed by Trump on Chinese goods.
However, at the end of January, White House press secretary Jennifer Psaki, when asked whether, in Biden's opinion, the first phase of the US-China trade deal was still valid, replied that "all decisions of the previous administration are being analyzed at the moment."
American aircraft carrier group in the South China Sea
Reuters
© JMSDF / US Navy
Vladimir Batyuk, head of the Center for Military-Political Studies of the Institute of the USA and Canada, RAS, in a conversation with RT, recalled that before the 2020 presidential elections in the American expert community there were many predictions that, unlike the Trump administration, which was waging an economic war with China, the Biden administration will get along with the PRC.
“However, now nothing of the kind is happening, the American state continues its policy of confrontation simultaneously with Russia and China.
Thus, the United States creates ideal conditions for the Russian-Chinese rapprochement on an American basis, ”the political scientist noted.
Batyuk stressed that the Asia-Pacific region remains one of the most dynamically developing economic regions of the planet.
“It is for this reason that this is an important market for the United States.
In addition, the States have important military-political alliances there, for example, relations with Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand.
If the United States for some reason has to leave this region, it will be a fatal blow to their claims to global military and political leadership, ”the expert emphasized.
In turn, Vasily Kashin, a senior research fellow at the Higher School of Economics, suggested that Washington, under the Biden administration, will more actively interact with the ASEAN countries to joint efforts to curb China's development.
“From the statements of the new administration, it is already known that its attention will be drawn to building alliances to contain the PRC.
These goals were previously announced by the Trump administration, but they just had worse relations with allies.
The Asia-Pacific region is the main region of the modern world where economic growth is observed.
Just as the Cold War was fought for domination in Europe, the current confrontation is waged for domination in Asia, "the source said.
According to the expert, the most acute problem in relations between the United States and China is now the status of Taiwan.
“This problem is the most dangerous in terms of the likelihood of becoming an armed conflict, since China cannot make significant concessions on this issue,” Kashin explained.
He also noted that the White House's announcement of the revision of trade restrictions on Beijing does not mean that they will be lifted or relaxed.
“The Biden administration will begin to revise the previously introduced measures against China, because under Trump, many of them were introduced hastily and caused damage rather to the United States itself.
But after the inventory has been carried out, Washington will continue to pursue an active sanctions policy against China, ”the political scientist concluded.