Democrats, Republicans not far apart on China, Russia policy
It was Heraclitus who wrote that: "No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he's not the same man." That would seem to be an apt description of President Biden as he seeks to fashion America's policies toward both China and Russia in the early days of his administration.
Nine years ago, then-Vice President Biden took a leisurely six-day tour in China with his daughter and granddaughter but also met with his counterpart, then-Vice President Xi Jinping. Vice President Biden was tasked at that point by President Obama to get to know Xi and build a relationship. They would meet again several times and those interactions have provided plenty of fodder for China Hawks who accuse Biden of being soft on China.
Arguably, however, it is not the same China, Xi, United States or Biden. The hope that China, once brought into the international trading system, would gradually liberalize its politics has long since faded, especially under Xi's presidency.
China's repression of the Uighurs, the crackdown in Hong Kong, the aggressive military posture in the South and East China Seas and the stated goal of dominating many of the most important technologies of the 21st Century have made clear that the United States is now locked in a competition with a nation that, in many ways, is more formidable than the former Soviet Union.
Yet, it is more than that. China believes that its model of state-dominated capitalism mixed with an authoritarian political system is superior to the messy democratic systems in the West.
America's poor handling of the pandemic and the events of Jan. 6 at the Capitol convince many of China's leaders that they are winning.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, sounded genuinely surprised when Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he agreed with outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's characterization of China's repression of the Uighurs as "genocide," a word not tossed around lightly among diplomats. Blinken described the competition between the U.S. and China as that between "Techno-Democracy" and "Techno-Autocracy." Will digital tools be used to further freedom and prosperity or control and repression and who will write the rules?
In like manner, there will be no reset with Russia by the Biden Administration. Russia's interference in our elections, cyber attacks, malign actions to prop up dictators such as Bashar al-Assad and Alexander Lukashenko and its growing repression at home, make it a dangerous actor on the world stage. Even Vladimir Putin's fiercest critics believe he has played a weak hand well, largely propped up by vast oil and gas reserves. Blinken has made clear that President Biden will "impose costs for Mr. Putin's meddling and aggression."
In listening to the back and forth between Secretary Blinken and Republicans during his confirmation hearing, one is struck by the fact that in this era of deep divisions, Democrats - at least Biden Democrats - and Republicans are very much on the same page when it comes to these two challenges.
President Biden has made two things very clear.
First, that there are issues where the U.S. is going to have to find a way to work with China (climate change, trade, North Korea) and Russia (arms control, Iran, Ukraine and Syria).
Second, that America will be best able to do that if it strengthens its alliances, but, more importantly, becomes stronger at home. That means shoring up our democracy, our economy and our investments in future technologies and the American people. Now, President Biden will try to accomplish all of that as he steps into the fast flowing current of global events.
• Keith Peterson, of Lake Barrington, served 29 years as a press and cultural officer for the United States Information Agency and Department of State. He was chief editorial writer of the Daily Herald 1984-86.