[Biden Era] China: "Uncertainty Removed, But..." Stronger US Players Emerge

US Containment Moves Unchanged, Indo-Pacific Strategy Closely Watched
Attention on Appointment of Hardline US Diplomatic Team

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Jo Young-shin] Ahead of the official launch of the Joe Biden U.S. administration, expectations and concerns are mixed within China.

Chinese diplomatic experts predict that since President-elect Biden has a high level of understanding of China, there will be some form of change in U.S.-China relations.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

◆"Biden is different from Trump" Expectations=Above all, they emphasize that "uncertainty has been removed." At the very least, they expect that the next President Biden will not deliberately provoke conflicts like President Donald Trump did.

There are also opinions that Biden’s political background will help improve U.S.-China tensions. Biden has a distinguished political career, including 36 years as a senator and 8 years as vice president. As a politician and diplomatic expert, President-elect Biden is expected to be different from President Trump. Zhao Huji, a professor at the Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party, said, "How much the U.S. political leader understands China will be the key to improving China-U.S. relations."

Professor Zha Qingguo of Peking University’s School of International Studies also praised President-elect Biden as a principled person. Professor Zha cautiously predicted that there will be changes in China-U.S. relations after Biden’s official inauguration, saying, "Biden, like China, will want to resume dialogue between China and the U.S."

Chinese government-affiliated scholars and state-run media continue to send signals that they want a new cooperative relationship with the Biden administration. This reflects expectations for the new U.S. government.

However, concerns are not few. Unless there is a fundamental change in the U.S.’s basic policy to contain China, China-U.S. relations cannot return to how they were before.

China is particularly closely watching the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy. The basic purpose of the Indo-Pacific strategy, which aims to mobilize U.S. allies such as India, is to block China’s expansion. Within China, the dominant view is that even after the Biden administration officially takes office, there will be no change in the Indo-Pacific strategy. Chinese intellectuals predict that while the name of the Indo-Pacific strategy may change, its basic and fundamental purpose will not.

◆Alert to the appointment of a hardline diplomatic team=China is also paying close attention to President-elect Biden’s appointments for the foreign and security team. Biden has nominated Tony Blinken, former Deputy Secretary of State, as Secretary of State, and Jake Sullivan, former National Security Advisor to the Vice President, as National Security Advisor.

He also appointed Kurt Campbell, former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, to the newly created White House position of "Asia czar." Campbell, classified as a hardliner on China, is known to coordinate policies on China and Asia. All of these appointees are seasoned diplomats who emphasize cooperation with allies in the Asia-Pacific region.

Some in China speculate that President-elect Biden may use more refined diplomatic skills to exert even greater pressure on China.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.