Kamala Harris is betting that the Americans do not want a total confrontation when they tell pollsters they wish their leaders would be even tougher on China.
In the face of polls indicating that a majority of Americans believe confronting China should be a top foreign policy priority, Harris’ campaign message suggests that while she will not be soft on the Asian country, There is nothing positive about a further rift between the world’s two largest economies.
That contrasts with the stance of his rival Donald Trump, who has advocated for 60 percent tariffs on Chinese imports.
Vice President Harris has been involved in efforts to “responsibly manage competition with China,” her top foreign policy adviser, Phil Gordon, wrote shortly after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. In keeping with Harris’s sparse policy platform thus far, the official made no mention of tariffs at all.
Instead, national security professionals highlighted Harris’ November 2022 meeting with President Xi Jinping in Bangkok “to make clear that we needed to keep the lines of communication open so that competition does not veer into conflict.”
Kamala Harris’s vision on the US-China relationship
For followers of Biden’s China policy, the wording will be familiar. Harris is expected to stay the course in her confrontation with China on trade issues. semiconductor technologytensions over Taiwan and Territorial disputes in the South China SeaAn aide to the vice president, who asked not to be identified, said she would continue her work to counter Chinese efforts to undermine global stability.
Harris has barely mentioned China since joining the race. She made a brief reference to the Democratic convention, vowing that “America, not China, will win the race for the 21st century.”
The Democratic nominee would likely take a “more tailored approach” to tariffs than Trump, according to Jennifer Welch, who previously advised Harris on Asia and is now chief geoeconomics analyst at Bloomberg Economics.
“A potential Harris administration is more likely retain key aspects of Biden’s approach to China that a possible second Trump administration,” he said.
It’s a strategy that could be quickly tested. American officials are increasingly concerned about China’s drive to expand its nuclear weapons arsenal. They have also sounded the alarm with increasing urgency about Beijing’s support for Russia’s war effort in UkraineHarris has not said what she will do about TikTok, the Chinese-owned video-sharing app that Congress voted to ban, though she has joined it.
The problem for Democrats is that voters prefer Trump’s strategy to Biden’s. The former president has exploited (and according to critics has encouraged) a Deep source of animosity towards ChinaBiden continued some of Trump’s policies and refused to lift tariffs he imposed during his time in office.
This coincides with a bipartisan consensus in Washington. In two weeks, the House of Representatives will hold “China Week,” during which bills will be introduced to impose a series of new restrictions on the country.
Harris was one of the senators who co-sponsored bills related to alleged human rights abuses in Hong Kong and in the region of Xinjiangin China’s far west. If he raises such sensitive issues again, relations could be strained, according to Cui Hongjian, a professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University and a former Chinese diplomat.
Biden adviser highlights Harris’ foreign policy experience
Tensions spanning a wide range of issues are one of the reasons why Biden likely to become first president since Jimmy Carter not to visit China during his tenure. Still, he has sought to avoid a complete breakdown in relations.
With just over two months to go until the election, Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan also signaled that Harris would back the Biden administration’s plan to continue talking to China.
“Vice President Harris has been a core member of Biden’s foreign policy team,” Sullivan said. “She has had the opportunity to interact with President Xi and Premier Li, so both of China’s top leaders know her.”
In another sign, Harris has chosen Tim Walz as running matesomeone with extensive experience working in the Asian nation. Meanwhile, Gordon’s memo noted that Harris had visited the Indo-Pacific region four times and had devoted “significant time and energy” to strengthening alliances there.
“The fact that Harris has spent a lot of time in Asia says a lot about her strategy in China,” said Jacob Stokes, a member of the think tank Center for a New American Securitywho advised Biden on Asia policy when he was vice president. “There is an old axiom that says that The best strategy for China is a good strategy for Asia”.
