Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Secretary of State Nominee Blinken Sees Strong Foundation for Bipartisan
China Policy

Nike Ching

   WASHINGTON - U.S. President-elect Joe Biden's foreign policy team is
   vowing to work with like-minded partners around the world to take on
   pressing challenges, ranging from receding democracy to'¯the'¯growing
   rivalry with China, Russia and other authoritarian states.'¯

   Tuesday, Biden's nominee for secretary of state, Antony Blinken, told
   the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations at his confirmation hearing
   that he believed President Donald Trump was right in taking "a tougher
   approach" to China, even if he did not agree with all his methods.

   "As we look at China, there is no doubt that it poses the most
   significant challenge" to U.S.national interests, Blinken said, noting
   there's room for cooperation.

   "There are rising adversarial aspects of the relationship; certainly,
   competitive ones, and still some cooperative ones, when it is in our
   mutual interests," he added.

   Blinken'¯was deputy secretary of state during the Obama administration
   and has close ties with Biden.'¯He was staff director for the Senate
   Foreign Relations Committee when Biden was chair of the panel, and
   later was then-Vice President Biden's national security adviser.'¯

   The incoming Biden administration may take confidence-building steps to
   reverse irritants in U.S.-China relations, including easing visa
   restrictions on journalists and restoring closed consulates, according
   to Kurt Campbell, who has been tapped as Biden's senior coordinator for
   Indo-Pacific policy at the White House National Security Council.

   Uighurs, Taiwan

   Blinken on Tuesday endorsed the assessment that the Chinese Communist
   Party has engaged in genocide against the Uighur Muslim population in
   Xinjiang. Outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the
   genocide determination earlier in the day.

.