The speech followed President Joe Biden’s just-concluded visits to South Korea and Japan, where China loomed large in discussions.
“So we will shape the strategic environment around Beijing to advance our vision for an open and inclusive international system.”īlinken’s address was delivered overnight in China and there was no immediate reaction to the speech from the Chinese embassy in Washington. “We can’t rely on Beijing to change its trajectory,” Blinken said in the speech, delivered at George Washington University. has limited ability to directly influence China’s intentions and ambitions and will instead focus on shaping the strategic environment around China. However, he also acknowledged that the U.S. “This is not about forcing countries to choose, it’s about giving them a choice,” he said. does not seek to change China’s political system, rather it wants to offer a tested alternative. Thus, Blinken laid out principles for the administration to marshal its resources, friends and allies to push back on increasing Chinese assertiveness around the world. “Beijing’s vision would move us away from the universal values that have sustained so much of the world’s progress over the past 75 years.” “China is the only country with both the intent to reshape the international order - and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to do it,” he said. “Even as President Putin’s war continues, we will remain focused on the most serious long-term challenge to the international order - and that is the one posed by the People’s Republic of China,” Blinken said. sees Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine as the most acute and immediate threat to international stability, Blinken said the administration believes China poses a greater danger. In a speech outlining the administration’s China policy, Blinken laid out a three-pillar approach to competing with Beijing in a race to define the 21st century’s economic and military balance. WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday the Biden administration aims to lead the international bloc opposed to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine into a broader coalition to counter what it sees as a more serious, long-term threat to global order from China.