Former President Donald Trump thinks President Joe Biden’s administration’s approach to relations with China shows “such weakness,” according to a recent exclusive interview with Fox News.
“China respected this country when I was president,” Trump said. “China does not respect our country any more. It is very sad.”
Biden spoke with People’s Republic of China (PRC) President Xi Jinping during a Sept. 9 call. According to the White House, Biden and Jinping “had a broad, strategic discussion in which they discussed areas where our interests converge, and areas where our interests, values, and perspectives diverge. They agreed to engage on both sets of issues openly and straightforwardly.”
Biden also made it clear that the discussion was part of an ongoing effort to manage competition between the U.S. and China.
He “underscored the United States’ enduring interest in peace, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and the world and the two leaders discussed the responsibility of both nations to ensure competition does not veer into conflict.”
Trump thinks the administration’s approach is a misstep.
“I don’t think it is a good way to express it to China,” he told Fox News. “It shows such weakness. We have shown such weakness.”
Trump also said “It’s not an appropriate message.”
When he was president in January 2020, Trump signed a Phase 1 trade agreement with China that included requirements for structural reforms and other changes to China’s economic and trade regime. It was intended to address trade secrets, patents and pharmaceutical-related intellectual property, trademarks, enforcement against pirated and counterfeit goods, currency manipulation and more.
“We take a momentous step -- one that has never been taken before with China -- toward a future of fair and reciprocal trade, as we sign phase one of the historic trade deal between the United States and China,” said Trump of the agreement. “Together, we are righting the wrongs of the past and delivering a future of economic justice and security for American workers, farmers, and families.”
However, The Washington Post reported last October that “President Trump’s bet that he could tame China’s rise through a mix of personal charisma and dealmaking prowess has faltered in the fourth year of his presidency — giving way to the most hostile period of bilateral relations in decades and a pitched conflict that could endure for a generation.”
According to Fox, intelligence officials warned that China “posed a grave national security threat” to the U.S. near the end of Trump’s term.
Tensions regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, which is believed to have originated in China, also impacted communication between the Trump and Jinping, said The Washington Post.
Since Biden’s call with Jinping in September, China made headlines for tests of a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile over the summer.
“Generally speaking, we’ve made clear our concerns about the military capabilities that the PRC continues to pursue,” said Biden administration Press Secretary Jen Psaki of the missile test. “And we have been consistent in our approach with China: We welcome stiff competition, but we not — we do not want that competition to veer into conflict. And that is certainly what we convey privately as well.”
This October, The Washington Post reported that the Central Intelligence Agency would create a new center “focused exclusively on gathering intelligence about China and countering its espionage against the United States.”
According to the outlet, this indicates that senior U.S. officials are expecting a years-long struggle with Beijing.
CIA Director William J. Burns said the China Mission Center should “further strengthen our collective work on the most important geopolitical threat we face in the 21st century, an increasingly adversarial Chinese government.”
According to NBC News, Biden’s China stances have actually been close to Trump’s since he became president.
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