During his first visit to the Pentagon as commander-in-chief, President Joe Biden announced that a new Department of Defense task force will review the US-China military posture.
Biden announced new Pentagon task force
WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 10: President Joe Biden speaks at the Pentagon February 10, 2021 in Washington, DC. Biden and Harris made their first trip to the Pentagon to deliver remarks and meet the nation's first Black Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
On Monday, the President said the new Pentagon task force would examine the "growing challenges" of the US-China military strategy. As relations between Washington and Beijing become tenser in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic and a years-long trade war, the panel will work quickly to provide Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin with proposals on military policy.
Biden referred to a region including the heavily-contested South China Sea, "To maintain peace and protect our rights in the Indo-Pacific and internationally, we need to face the rising challenges raised by China."
He continued by saying he was briefed on a new DOD China Task Force that Secretary Austin stands to look at the strategy and operational concepts, force posture, and technology, and so much more.
According to NY Post, the changing US-China relationship confronts Biden's presidency with one of the biggest foreign policy threats. The US hit Chinese exports with high tariffs under uncompromising predecessor Donald Trump, brought President Xi Jinping to task for the country's mishandling of the first cases of the coronavirus pandemic condemned human rights violations against Uighurs.
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The task force review will help build a strong path on issues with China
According to The Epoch Times, President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the Pentagon would undertake a new analysis of how the U.S. military will address China's threat.
"A government-wide effort, bipartisan cooperation in Congress, and strong alliances and partnerships will be required," Biden said at the Pentagon building. "That's how we're going to meet the challenge in China and ensure that the American people win the future competition."
He added that the review would help "chart a strong path forward on China-related matters."
On Sunday, Biden told CBS News that "the Chinese government should anticipate extreme competition" from the United States. Still, he said the relationship need not focus on confrontation. "We will confront the economic abuses of China," explained Biden, adding the government is "the most serious competitor in the United States."
In the interview, however, Biden said he would take a different path to the CCP than Trump, whose administration has often condemned the government for its systematic violations of human rights, the dissemination of lies, and other abuses.
The new Pentagon task force group will be responsible for making recommendations on the United States' role in China. It will provide Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin with its findings in four months.
"No final public report is expected, although the department will discuss suggestions as appropriate with Congress and other stakeholders," the Pentagon wrote in a statement about the new task force on Wednesday.
The task force will be led by Ely Ratner, a longtime aide to Biden, as per the Pentagon. Ratner had previously worked as vice president of the think tank's Center for New American Security.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed that the Trump administration was right to take a more challenging position against the CCP.
"I think he was right to take a tougher approach to China, in fairness to President Trump. That was the best thing to do," he said in a Sunday CNN interview.
What does this ask of us, though? From a position of dominance, we have to engage China. And we have to work with it from a position of strength, whether it's the negative aspects of the relationship, the competitive ones, or the cooperative ones that arise in our common interest," Blinken continued.
Biden released detailed comments on China's presidency
Amid the meetings with new Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Biden plans to make the announcement. The step comes days after Biden, after his most detailed public comments on China's presidency, was released.
The President also commented several times about meeting the Chinese king, as per Daily Mail. Officials have described the task force as managing different US government levers. The Wall Street Journal confirmed that they include commercial, diplomatic, political, and military zones.
China has been seen as an increasing rival to the US for decades. Its officials have developed elaborate strategies for controlling the developing world, extending Chinese territorial claims, exercising greater ownership over particular territories such as Hong Kong, and continuing its advances as a global military and economic power.
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