[Global NK Interview] China's Position on the Worsening "Strategic Competition" Between the U.S. and China

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CkE2qGbFYQ

Professor Jia Qingguo of Peking University's School of International Studies argues that the U.S. is increasing the possibility of military conflict between the U.S. and China by infringing upon China's sovereignty over Taiwan, compelling China to reconsider its existing nuclear strategies such as 'minimum deterrence' and 'no first use.' Furthermore, Professor Jia emphasizes that the Biden administration and Congress should cease interfering in China's internal affairs and abandon actions that contradict the principle of nuclear non-proliferation, instead seeking areas of cooperation based on the common interests of the U.S. and China.

※ This interview was presented at the first session of the Global NK International Conference on the theme "Nuclear Competition and East Asian Security Crisis: ROK-U.S.-China Policies Toward North Korea and Military Conflict Scenarios."

I. The term "strategic competition" is "untraditional, misleading, and U.S.-imposed."

• The term “strategic competition” is “imposed” on China by the U.S., and China has never accepted this term. China believes that this term does not adequately capture the complicated bilateral relationship. Outright “public” competition is untraditional for Chinese—instead, Chinese tend to compete under the table.

II. U.S. attempts to revise the commitments established during China-U.S. normalization.

• United States’ determination to engage in a “strategic competition” has resulted in a distinct pattern of behavior that makes the relationship more difficult and confrontational. Trump and Biden have both been pursuing high-tech decoupling, supply chain redirection, and military preparation in places of China’s interest.

• Of all U.S. actions, China is most concerned about U.S. challenge against the territorial sovereignty and integrity over Taiwan. Under this circumstance, China is rethinking its national strategy.

• Since Biden came into office, U.S. policy toward China has become less volatile and outright provocative. Yet Congress poses the problem—it has become increasingly proactive over Taiwan, passing bills and resolutions unfavorable to China.

• While U.S. “containment” policy against China aims to take away China’s stake in the international order, China must be stronger and more capable to “wreck the [U.S.-led] order” if it finds interest in doing so.

III. If U.S. continues pressuring China on Taiwan problem, China must reconsider.

• China’s nuclear policy has been based on three pillars: (1) minimum in number, (2) no first use, and (3) nonproliferation. With growing U.S. threat, there is growing voices in China calling for a stronger stance.

• In short, U.S. should stop meddling with Taiwan and engage with China. It is never too late to stop confrontation and seek cooperation. ■

※ Please cite accordingly when referencing this source.

■ JIA, Qingguo is a Professor of the School of International Studies at Peking University.

■ Editor and Manager: PARK Ji-soo, EAI Research Fellow

Contact: 02 2277 1683 (ext. 208) | jspark@eai.or.kr

Video Transcript

foreign the so-called strategic competition is something that is imposed on China China has never accepted the term uh the term first came up actually during the Bush Junior Administration around the time he got into the White House he started to say that China U.S relationship is a strategic competition and then we had 9 11 and then he dropped the term the term was re used Again by Trump after he came into office but uh China has never accepted the term strategic competition to describe the relationship

why because First China believed that such kind of a description uh is too negative from Chinese perspective we don't like you know to describe our relationship as competition you know actually in the Chinese tradition uh we felt we we compete under the table rather than uh in in public uh in politics you know uh this is a very untraditional from a cultural perspective secondly Chinese do not believe that this term captures the complicated relationship between the two countries okay of course we have areas of competition

we have even air areas of Confrontation but uh a very important aspect of our relationship is cooperation we tend to forget that when we talk about competition so China has been very reluctant to accept the term sometimes you hear Chinese officials talking about positive or constructive con competition as opposed to malign competition you know I wrote an essay on this a short essay on this a few a couple of years ago but but again uh competition is not a term that China Chinese government wants to use to describe the

relationship the U.S determination to engage in a strategic competition with China has resulted in a pattern of behavior that has made the relationship between the two countries increasingly difficult and confrontational we we heard you know we have seen tariffs imposed during the Trump Administration where I've seen tech tech high-tech decoupling that has been going on since the Trump Administration and the the white Administration is accelerating this process and also supply chain restrict redirecting uh that's part of the

strategy of the Trump and and by Administration and also military preparation uh so you see despite a huge deficit the U.S government is facing actually they are having a great difficult time uh to figure out whether they should set a ceiling for it at the moment they are increasing the the U.S defense budget uh quite dramatically uh and above all and also building anti-china coalitions we have quad in addition to a lot of military alliances around China and above all the efforts to challenge China's territorial integrity and

sovereignty over Taiwan and of course in the Chinese eyes the most offensive and perhaps the most dangerous thing the US has been doing is to challenge China's uh territorial integrity and sovereignty over Taiwan during the past few past decades the U.S as we need all the three commitments it made for uh normalization of the relations between the two countries meaning uh you know aberration I mean suspension of uh withdrawing diplomatic relations let me see now the U.S has basically restored a lot

of official relationship with with Taiwan and and also aberration of the treaty Mutual defense treaty now the US is renewing its defense commitments with the relationship with Taiwan and also withdraw troops from Taiwan and now the U.S is sending more and more military personnel to train uh Taiwan troops of the Taiwan authorities so uh so it's under that kind of circumstances the China is rethinking it's strategy of peaceful unification okay um the U.S Congress I mean after Biden came into office I think U.S policy on Taiwan

has become less volatile less official uh officially uh moving in a more provocative Direction but the Congress has become a a major actor increasingly proactive so you see dozens and dozens of Taiwanese Taiwan related bills and resolutions passing in in the Congress groups and groups of members of the U.S Congress going to Taiwan as if they don't have anything to do and uh and two speakers of the house Nancy pelusi and Kevin McCarthy competed in putting the Taiwan problem on the headlines at China's

expense okay so uh the the U.S policy of containment against China constitutes efforts to take China's stake out of the existing International order one piece by piece okay ah so if it is successful if U.S successfully deprives China of its stakes in the existing International order uh then uh it would put china back to the 1950s and 60s when China did not have any stake at all in the international order and vowed to do whatever it takes to overthrow that order okay and unlike the old days however China is

much stronger today so it has much more capability to whack the order if it if it finds the in its interest nuclear policy has three major components to it minimum in number no first use non-proliferation okay so as the U.S challenges China's territory integrity and sovereignty over Taiwan and China's efforts to stop dummy recent years military confrontation and indeed war between the two countries in the over Taiwan uh have become increasingly likely and given the increasing threat the U.S poses to China increasing number of

people in China subscribe to the idea that it's time for China to reconsider its nuclear weapon policy some argue that China should drastically increase the number of nuclear weapons okay he talked about 1 000 Warheads as opposed to a couple of hundred and there are other people who argue for even more okay and some people in China believe that China should change its no first use policy okay the U.S has not commit to it some other nuclear Powers have not committed to it why should China you know committed to with no first use

yeah and some other con people believe that since the U.S has changed this non-non proliferation policy by supplying Australia with this with nuclear submarine and is considering deploying nuclear tactical nuclear weapons in Japan and South Korea China should also change its policy on non-proliferation okay what that means is that if the U.S decides to supply nuclear material or weapons to countries hostile to China China should do the same to the U.S okay so that's the argument by some people in

China and is gaining uh currency against the context of deterior rating U.S China relations at the moment China's official position is remains to uh to adhere to its long-standing nuclear weapon policy however if the U.S pressures on China especially on the Taiwan problem are increasingly the I will increase then China probably would have to consider reconsider its policy on nuclear weapons so if one does not wish a nuclear arms race nuclear proliferation or maybe a nuclear war between China and

the U.S it's time to Earth the U.S especially the US Congress to stop messing up with China's territorial integrity and sovereignty over Taiwan and work with China to manage their differences and engage in cooperation where their interests overlap between China and the Us and other countries should resist the pressures to take sight and exercise their influence to make it clear that they oppose china-u.s confrontation and would act accordingly it is never too late to do a good thing so let's hope thank you