As the U.S. seeks common ground with China in an era of great power competition, the most important thing is to “make clear and to demonstrate to the Chinese that we still have staying power,” national security official Kurt Campbell said Monday.
The U.S. must also show it’s still the world’s preeminent superpower and is committed to its “larger purpose in the Indo-Pacific,” he said.
The Asia czar, whom President Joe Biden recently nominated as deputy secretary of state, delivered the remarks during an interview for the Atlantic Council think tank’s new series “So What’s the Strategy for China?” He was joined by Representative Mike Gallagher, chair of the House Select Committee on China, and British Ambassador to the U.S. Karen Pierce.
Asked about the Biden administration’s China strategy, Campbell called it “broad” and “multifaceted.”
To be effective, the U.S. must invest seriously in technologies like semiconductors, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, synthetic biology, 5G and 6G, and robotics, he said.
Campbell stressed that Washington cannot go it alone.
The view that Washington “is a power in hurtling decline” has gained wide currency in President Xi Jinping’s China. Feeling its moment has come, the world’s second-largest economy has embarked on pressure campaigns against U.S. allies and partners, Campbell said.
The American strategy also relies on a network of these partnerships. Contrary to Chinese Communist Party propaganda, the goal is not to contain China but to empower
