The Biden Administration’s Approach in China and East Asia

SINGAPORE – The Biden administration will likely maintain a harsh rhetoric against China, a former Singapore diplomat said on Wednesday.

But it remains to be seen whether the administration would listen to other countries in the region before implementing its policy towards Beijing, said Kishore Mahbubani, now a distinguished fellow at the Asian Research Institute of the National University of China. Singapore, to CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia”.

“I think there is no doubt that the Biden administration must appear very tough on China,” he said, adding: “It is very clear because there is a strong bipartisan consensus in the United States. on the fact that now is the time for the United States to stand up to China. “

He made his remarks Wednesday morning during Asian hours ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration.

US-China relations deteriorated dramatically under President Donald Trump as the two superpowers waged a trade war and vied for technological superiority. In some cases, the United States has sought to bring countries to its side against China. But in Asia, especially Southeast Asia, Beijing’s economic and political influence remains strong.

“The critical thing here is that the Biden administration will listen to countries in the region before implementing a policy towards China?” Mahbubani said. He explained that if the Biden administration started listening, it would find that there is a very strong consensus in East Asia.

“Yes, you have to be firm and strong on China, but we also have to get along with China. We have to work with China. We want our economies to recover from Covid-19. So that’s the message you are getting. will receive, “Mahbubani said.

“At the end of the day, I’m actually optimistic that behind the very strong rhetoric there is also an understanding within the Biden administration that they were able to work with the rest of East Asia. And frankly, also working with China on critical issues like climate change, for example, ”he added.

Under the Obama administration, one of the cornerstones of America’s pivot to Asia was the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. Trump withdrew the United States from this deal when he first took office in 2017.

The remaining 11 TPP countries renegotiated the pact and signed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in 2018. Last year, China and 14 other countries signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which has become the world’s largest trading bloc, covering a market of 2.2 billion people and $ 26.2 trillion in global production.

As such, the United States does not participate in any of the mega-trade deals involving most of Asia’s major economies except India.

The TPP was a “gift to the United States because it was a way to anchor the American presence in East Asia, to ensure that this region does not become dominated by China,” said Mahbubani.

He explained that an unfavorable domestic attitude in the United States towards free trade agreements, even those that can potentially be beneficial to the country, would make it more difficult for Washington to join the new CPTPP.

“To be a real pivot, the United States would have to find ways and means to perhaps return in a very subtle and indirect way into the trans-Pacific partnership,” said Mahbubani.