Antony Blinken calls China biggest ‘test’, vows American strength

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that the US was ready to confront China wherever necessary.

Antony Blinken at the State Department on Thursday. Picture: AFP

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday AEDT that the US was ready to confront China wherever necessary, calling Washington’s ties with the Asian power the “biggest geopolitical test” of the century.

In his first major speech, Mr Blinken promised that Joe Biden’s administration would prioritise diplomacy over military action and build co-operation with the world on global challenges such as climate change and COVID-19.

“We will manage the biggest geopolitical test of the 21st century: our relationship with China,” Mr Blinken said at the State Department.

He vowed to champion the rights of Hong Kong and the ethnic Uighurs, saying if not, “China will act with even greater impunity”.

“China is the only country with the economic, diplomatic, military and technological power to seriously challenge the stable and open international system — all the rules, values and relationships that make the world work the way we want it to,” he said.

“Our relationship with China will be competitive when it should be, collaborative when it can be and adversarial when it must be.

“And we will engage China from a position of strength.”

Mr Blinken’s remarks come amid a hardening of views in Washington since the turbulent presidency of Donald Trump, who alongside his top diplomat Mike Pompeo made a hard line on China a signature campaign issue and castigated Beijing over the pandemic and trading practices.

Mr Blinken has said he does not fundamentally disagree with Mr Trump on China but believes the US can be more effective — through working with allies and, in narrow cases, finding common ground.

“Strategic competition does not, and should not, preclude working with China when it is in our national interest to do so,” said an outline of Mr Biden’s foreign policy released to coincide with Mr Blinken’s speech.

The Interim National Security Guidance pointed to climate change, global health, arms control and non-proliferation as areas to seek China’s co-operation.

“As we do, we will rally our allies and partners to join us, pooling our negotiating leverage and showing our collective power and resolve,” it said.

The strategy said China’s leaders too often “behave aggressively and coercively” and vowed that the US would “position ourselves, diplomatically and militarily, to defend our allies.”

AFP