In the midst of competition with Beijing, the United States inaugurates the “China House.”
According to the State Department, a new agency would ensure that Washington is capable of managing rivalry with Beijing in a responsible manner.
The US State Department’s long-awaited “China House” branch, an internal reorganization designed to assist it to develop and refine its policymaking toward its main geopolitical competitor, was officially established on Friday in Washington.
The establishment of China House was announced by Secretary of State Antony Blinken in May. He described it as a department-wide, integrated team that would coordinate and carry out US policy across issues and regions.
According to Blinken in May, “the breadth and scope of the challenge provided by the People’s Republic of China will test American diplomacy like nothing we’ve ever seen.”
According to a department statement, Blinken presided over the unit’s official opening on Friday. He noted that it would ensure that the United States is able to “responsibly manage” rivalry with Beijing.
Blinken was reported in the announcement as saying that China House will bring together China specialists from throughout the department to collaborate with “every regional bureau and experts in international security, economics, technology, multilateral diplomacy, and strategic communications.”
According to a department official, it will take the position of the department’s China Desk, but Rick Waters, the deputy assistant secretary of state for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia in the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs, will continue to be in charge of it.
The administration of President Joe Biden has outlined a strategy to compete with China that is centred on enhancing US competitiveness and teaming up with allies and partners.
The US’s recent attempts to tighten export restrictions on critical technologies like semiconductors and US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August, which Beijing responded to with extensive military exercises, have shaken relations between the two countries.
Following their face-to-face encounter on the Indonesian island of Bali earlier in November, Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping have agreed to further talks, including a trip for Biden to China in early 2023.
