China wanted to ‘drive Australia to its knees’, Biden’s Indo-Pacific adviser says
- Kurt Campbell said Beijing has tried to ‘break’ Canberra by ramping up economic pressure on the US ally
- He also noted that the US is not leaving the Indo-Pacific, and ‘the country is not in decline’
“China’s preference would have been to break Australia. To drive Australia to its knees,” Campbell said.
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These groups would also focus on technology, education, climate and pandemic cooperation, to show the US was bringing value to Asia, he said.
“The United States is not leaving the Indo-Pacific, and we’re not in decline,” he said, adding there appeared to be a belief among “ideological advisers around President Xi that somehow the United States is in this hurtling decline”.
Beijing’s lack of communication over its build up of nuclear deterrent capabilities, hypersonic and anti-satellite systems was of concern to the US, he said, calling them “practices, that, if they continue, run risks of triggering an unforeseen crisis, or a misunderstanding.”
The US was seeking dialogue on the issue, he said, and had told China it wanted competition that was conducted peacefully.