‘Outcompeting China, restraining Russia’ are Biden’s top of the agenda foreign policy: White House

Washington, Oct 13

The White House has released a US foreign policy objective putting national security on the top of the agenda by "Outcompeting China and Curbing Russian aggression".

The policy also said the US wants to build an international alliance to do both, which are the main goals of its foreign policy.

The Biden administration's long-awaited national security strategy says outcompeting China, and restraining Russia's aggression as its war in Ukraine progresses, will be its key goals for the coming year.

The 48-page document, launched on Wednesday after a number of delays as the White House adjusted to Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions in Ukraine, talks up President Joe Biden's resolve to build international alliances to stand up for democracy.

At a press briefing accompanying its release, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the war hadn't "fundamentally altered" Biden's approach to foreign policy, but has strengthened the importance of, and his desire to work with international partners.

"The strategy presents in living colour the key elements of our approach, the emphasis on allies, the importance of strengthening the hand of the democratic world and standing up for our fellow democracies and for democratic values.

"What the nuclear threats and sabre rattling we've seen from Russia remind us of is just what a significant and seriously dangerous adversary Russia is, not just to the US but to a world that is seeking peace and stability, and now has seen that flagrantly disrupted by this invasion and now by all of the sabre rattlings," he said.

"Being able to watch how Ukraine unfolded, have the terms of geopolitical competition sharpened up over the course of the past few months, and also being able to put on display how our strategy works in practice – I think all of those serve a good purpose in terms of giving life to the document that we're releasing today," Sullivan was quoted by multiple news outlets here including the Business Insider.

Regarding China, the strategy highlights Biden's concerns that Beijing was attempting to "layer authoritarian governance with a revisionist foreign policy".

In his preview of the policy on Wednesday, Sullivan added: "US's capacity to reshape the international order is in favour of one that tilts the global playing field to its benefit, even as the US remains committed to managing the competition between our countries responsibly."

"The Biden administration is looking at ways that the US can more effectively approach our trade policy with China to ensure that we are achieving the strategic priorities the president has laid out, which is the strongest possible American industrial and innovation base and a level playing field for American workers," he said.

Sullivan is scheduled to deliver further remarks at an event hosted by the Center for a New American Security and the Georgetown University Walsh school of foreign service.

--IANS