China the top challenge in US history, top diplomat says

Kurt Campbell, now the US deputy secretary of state, speaks next to senior South Korean official Kim Tae-hyo in Seoul in July 2023 – Copyright AFP Yan DOBRONOSOV

China presents the top challenge to the United States in all of its history, surpassing the Cold War, a top US official said Wednesday, as he urged Europe to get tougher on Beijing.

Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, a key architect of a 15-year push for the United States to reorient its foreign policy toward Asia, also urged greater US investment in advanced technology to compete better with China.

“There is a recognition that this is the most significant challenge in our history,” Campbell told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

“Frankly, the Cold War pales in comparison to the multifaceted challenges that China presents,” he said.

“It’s not just a military challenge; it’s across the board. It is in the Global South. It is in technology. We need to step up our game across the board.”

Campbell’s warning comes despite easing tensions between the United States and China under President Joe Biden, with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump more frequently speaking in Cold War terms about confronting Beijing.

Biden and his political heir Kamala Harris have supported dialogue with China even as their administration presses ahead with tough measures including a sweeping ban on exports of advanced chips.

Since a summit last year between Biden and President Xi Jinping in California, China has agreed to key US requests of restoring military communications and cracking down on ingredients in fentanyl, the drug behind an overdose epidemic in the United States.

But the United States has also warned China about support for Russia in its war on Ukraine, saying that its technology exports have allowed Moscow to ramp up military production.

“The challenge is, we’ve got to get more support here on this,” Campbell said of US sanctions on Chinese firms, an issue he said he has been raising on visits to Europe.

Campbell said that most European allies shared concerns on China’s ties with Moscow but were still reeling from the “huge shock” of slashing energy imports from Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.

“For many of these countries, doing business with China has been a big deal for 15 or 20 years,” he said.

Acting on China, after Russia, could feel like “kind of a one-two punch. You can understand leaders in Europe have some anxieties.”

China argues that, unlike the United States, it is not providing weapons to either Russia or Ukraine, but the United States says it is providing support that has military uses.

– Message on Taiwan –

Trump has vowed a hard line on China as president and his running mate, Senator J.D. Vance, has said that the billions of dollars in US support for Ukraine would have been better spent on bolstering Taiwan, the self-ruling democracy claimed by Beijing.

Campbell rejected the argument, saying Ukraine’s success against Russia has “incredible implications for how others think about potential areas of conflict in the Indo-Pacific.”

Campbell, who was Biden’s top advisor on Asia before taking the number-two position at the State Department, contended that the administration has strengthened the US position since taking over from Trump.

He pointed in part to the bolstering of alliances, including the Quad with Australia, India and Japan and AUKUS with Britain and Australia.

“Four years ago, the general view globally was that China had eaten our lunch, that they were going to surpass us, economically and commercially, that we were in the midst of some sort of hurtling decline,” he said.

“I do not think that is what the general belief is today.”