(Bloomberg) -- America’s top diplomat in China said he spends 80% of his time on competition with Beijing and 20% on engagement, calling it the right balance just as Washington prepares for a new administration.
This approach has helped stabilize ties between the world’s two largest economies even as they continue to clash over issues including China’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, alleged cyberattacks and the “bullying” of its neighbors, outgoing Ambassador Nicholas Burns said in a Friday interview.
Burns, who’s been in Beijing since March 2022 amid a low point in US-China relations, refrained from commenting on what the new Trump administration should do, saying that would be unfair. But he defended the Biden government’s approach as being effective.
Among the achievements he listed were collaboration between Washington and Beijing on fentanyl, improved communications between their militaries and a recent prisoner swap. Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump has taken a tougher tone by threatening fresh tariffs if China fails to stop drug traffickers.
“We’re on the right road here.” Burns said, referring to the US-China cooperation on fentanyl. “And I’m confident that with much more effort and time, we should stay on the right road.”
Beijing arrested 300 of its citizens involved in the trade of precursor chemicals in the past 13 months, and banned the export of 55 precursor chemicals and synthetic drugs, according to Burns. “It’s the first time that the government of China has taken such a wide range of actions,” he said.
“Our previous policy of really no cooperation with them, but sanctioning of them, we didn’t see results — we saw zero action,” Burns added. “That’s why I say we have a choice.”
He will leave China in mid-January and is set to be replaced by Trump’s nominee for the role, ex-senator David Perdue. Burns said the two have exchanged emails and he’s advised his team at the embassy in Beijing to support Perdue in building the US-China relationship.
Still, he emphasized that US-China ties, which may be one of the most important and complex bilateral relationships in the world, are mainly about competition.
Burns wouldn’t comment on Trump’s tariff threats, saying only that Biden was “right” to maintain the duties that his administration inherited in 2021 and to build on them. The ambassador reiterated Washington’s concerns that excess Chinese production poses unfair competition and threatens the US industry.
“We cannot afford a second ‘China shock,’ where there’s mass loss of manufacturing jobs in the United States,” he said. “We won’t let that happen.”
Burns said China’s cyber-aggression is one of the most serious disagreements between the two countries, and repeated US complaints over Chinese support for Russia’s war efforts, allegations Beijing has denied.
He also challenged China’s framing of ties as one led by US actions, saying the future of the relationship hinges on Beijing’s behavior just as much as Washington’s decisions.
“Any relationship between two great powers is a function of what they do together and the choices they both make,” Burns said.
Below are some excerpts from the interview:
On China’s help to Russia:
“I don’t believe that the Chinese leadership understood just what a firestorm they would create by this unstinting support for Russia in the war — and in all the encounters and meetings we’ve had with the Chinese leadership over the last nearly three years now, since the start of the war in February 2022, we’ve made this crystal clear. This is a major division between us and it has a cost.”
On religious freedom in China:
“You see the gross limitations on the ability of people to practice their religion ... whether it’s Islam, Buddhism, Catholicism or Protestantism, there are severe limits put on the practice of religion here. So our obligation as a democratic country that believes strongly in human rights is to speak clearly, and that’s what we’ve done. And I think if we had not done this, it would have been a dereliction of our duty.”
On China’s actions in Hong Kong:
“We all know the commitments that the People’s Republic of China made to the people of Hong Kong when the handover occurred and during the subsequent decades. And the fact that democracy has disappeared, and human rights have disappeared in Hong Kong is the fault of the government of China.”
--With assistance from Lucille Liu.
(Updates to specify that comments about relations being on the right road refer to cooperation on fentanyl, following a clarification from the US embassy)
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