CHINA
October 1 marks the anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. The State Department issued a statement congratulating the Chinese people and vaguely mentioned the challenges in the relationship. It did not ask for the return of all American being illegally detained in Chinese prisons or mention other human rights issues. President Xi Jinping this year began a crackdown on private enterprises. According to the Jamestown Foundation, “pragmatist elements have expressed growing unease with recent developments and have stressed the salience of private enterprise and innovation to China’s growth.” The coming year looks like China will continue to experience crackdowns on private enterprises and freedom of speech and assembly. When asked about US-China relations during a Thursday TV interview in Pittsburgh, Secretary of State Tony Blinken said “One of the things we’ve learned, including from the COVID-19 crisis, is we have to build more diversified and more resilient supply chains, including bringing some of that manufacturing and supply back here to the United States, especially when it comes to critical products and critical technologies, where we can’t afford to be dependent on anyone else, or we can’t afford to have a shortage and a crunch.” He opted not to directly mention China as the source of the problem.
“PRESIDENT TRUMP”
During remarks to the press after Blinken’s meetings with America’s European partners at a Trade and Technology Council conference, the Secretary was asked if “the G20 in Rome be an opportunity for President Trump to discuss this issue and particularly to discuss with China the issue of the non-market economy? And what kind of answer would you like to receive from China?” Blinken did not note that Joe Biden was President, not Donald Trump. He went on to say that “we know there are ongoing commitments that China made, including in the Phase One trade deal negotiated by the previous administration in terms of commitments to purchase certain things that we believe China should be held to. But the bottom line is there is an important agenda – trade, investment with China for all of us is important and something that we want to sustain.” It appears the Secretary was uncertain who is the boss in the White House.
IRAN
After six to seven rounds of indirect talks, the Iranians continue to refuse to speak with US officials regarding their nuclear development program. According to Blinken, “They’ve been away from the talks now for three months… had an election, a new government was formed, but they’ve not re-engaged with the talks. So the jury is out on that and the ball remains in their court, but not for long. Because the problem that we face now…, is that because of the work that Iran is doing on its nuclear program in violation of the JCPOA – spinning more sophisticated centrifuges, building up stockpiles of uranium enriched to 20 percent or even 60 percent – simply getting back to the terms of the JCPOA at some point will not be sufficient to recapture the benefits of the agreement because of the progress Iran has made.” He added that the US is prevailing upon its partner countries to get Iran back into the JCPOA.
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During September North Korea test-fired its third hyper-sonic missile in violation of UN Security Council resolutions. Blinken said the US is “evaluating and assessing the launches” and that Washington takes it “very seriously.” When questioned by a reporter about specific actions the US is taking, Blinken did not offer any explicit actions beyond saying that “ Our envoy for North Korea is now actually talking to the South Koreans and the Japanese.”
AFGHANISTAN
When questioned about General Milley’s blaming the State Department for taking a long time on decisions regarding the withdrawal from Afghanistan, Blinken defended his Department in perfect Washington fashion saying “The President made the right decision to end America’s longest war… As the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Milley said himself, no one anticipated that the security forces of Afghanistan as well as the government would collapse in the short period of time they did. And I don’t think anyone can say that we took any of the decisions that we took alone, one agency making the decision. Everything we did, we did collectively as a team through a process, and every voice was heard and listened to in that process. And we did it together.”
DARIA NOVAK served in the United States State Department during the Reagan Administration, and currently is on the Board of the American Analysis of News and Media Inc., which publishes usagovpolicy.com and the New York Analysis of Policy and Government. Each Saturday, she presents key updates on U.S. foreign policy from the State Department.
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