Confrontation between the United States and China Continues Even in the Biden Era; an Alliance Is More Important than Ever

On Feb. 4, during a visit to the State Department, U.S. President Joe Biden said that he would confront China’s attacks on human rights, intellectual property, and global governance, calling them “our most serious competitor.” While he did say that “we’re ready to work with Beijing, when it’s in America’s interest to do so,” he made it clear he will not yield an inch to China, who challenges the U.S.-led world order. The relationship between the U.S. and China, which became even more confrontational during the time of the Donald Trump administration, won’t easily become less tense during Biden’s term either. This was apparent in U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s phone call with Chinese Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs Yang Jiechi, in which Blinken stressed “human rights and democratic values” while pushing subjects sensitive for the Chinese, like Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

In his inaugural address, Biden declared a departure from the isolationism of the Trump era, saying, “We will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again.” Confronting China through the guise of rebuilding an alliance is the Biden administration’s basic strategy. In order to keep the balance of the order in Northeast Asia, they will renew the U.S.-South Korea alliance and the three-way cooperation between the U.S., South Korea and Japan. They will also reexamine the Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy to keep Chinese forces’ expansion to the sea in check. On Feb. 7, Japanese media reported that the U.S. was moving forward with plans to hold the first “Quad” summit (U.S., Japan, Australia and India) online. A new network of collaboration is being formed — one that we are not participating in.

On a visit to South Korea during his term as vice president in 2013, Biden said, “it has never been a good bet to bet against America,” adding that “America is going to continue to place its bet on South Korea.” We must upgrade the U.S.-South Korea alliance to a much higher level like it was back then. This is a time to reestablish alliances guided by the principles of our national interests before we are pressured to make less desirable choices by the competition between the U.S. and China. We must finalize the U.S.-South Korea Special Measures Agreement as soon as possible and proactively coordinate the reassignment of U.S. armed forces in Korea. There is also a need to discuss the issue of the U.S. and South Korea joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.