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US-China relations
ChinaDiplomacy

US efforts to rally allies may not sway China, says Joe Biden’s top Asia official

  • Beijing could double down and ‘some elements of our playbook may require revision’, Kurt Campbell says
  • Multilateralism is still worthwhile and may be needed in the event of ‘an implacable set of circumstances with regard to China’, he adds

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Kurt Campbell told a discussion event he believed Chinese foreign policy was undergoing substantial evolution. Photo: AFP
Owen Churchill
The United States should prepare for the possibility that its strategy to rally allies to confront China may not succeed in pressuring Beijing to alter its behaviour, the White House’s top Asia official said on Tuesday.
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One abiding belief held by China analysts was that the Chinese government would alter course if it faced opposition from a front of other countries, said Kurt Campbell, who serves as the Indo-Pacific coordinator on the Biden administration’s National Security Council.

“I believe that there is some hope for that, but at the same time I do believe that Chinese foreign policy is in the midst of a substantial evolution,” Campbell said during a discussion event hosted by the Financial Times.

“It’s entirely possible that in some circumstances they will simply double down and that they will not backtrack,” he said. “And I think we have to recognise that some elements of our playbook may require revision.”

As the Biden administration has formulated its nascent China policy, senior officials have repeatedly highlighted the need to bolster partnerships with allies to confront Beijing, distancing themselves from the go-it-alone approach of the previous administration.

In the new administration’s first three months, the push for multilateralism has brought coordinated sanctions with allies against Beijing over its treatment of ethnic minority groups in China’s far west; a rare joint statement from Tokyo and Washington regarding the importance of peace in the Taiwan Strait; and a G7 session this week dedicated entirely to the challenges posed by Beijing.
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Yet Chinese officials have shown little sign of bowing to the mounting pressure, instead issuing their own retaliatory sanctions, dismissing criticism as interference in China’s internal affairs, and using a bilateral meeting in Alaska to chastise US diplomats in front of the cameras over their claims to occupy a “position of strength”.

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