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Abstract

The Biden Administration has continued the Trump Administration's declaratory policy identifying China as a "strategic competitor." It has retained Trump's tariffs, the "Quad," and other policies. Yet Biden's China policy differs in five important ways. First, it is coordinated within the administration. Second, it seeks cooperation with allies. Third, it places emphasis on strengthening the U.S. rather than weakening China. Fourth, it raises the profile of the human rights issue. Finally, besides competition, it seeks cooperation with China on issues of common interest. While Trump called the relationship a strategic competition, Biden is treating it truly as that.

About the Speaker

Andrew J. Nathan is Class of 1919 Professor of Political Science at Columbia University. His teaching and research interests include Chinese politics and foreign policy, the comparative study of political participation and political culture, and human rights. Nathan's books include Chinese Democracy (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985); The Tiananmen Papers, co-edited with Perry Link (New York: PublicAffairs, 2001); China's Search for Security, co-authored with Andrew Scobell (Columbia University Press, 2012); and Will China Democratize?, co-edited with Larry Diamond and Marc Plattner (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013). Nathan has served at Columbia as director of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, 1991-1995, chair of the Executive Committee of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, 2002-2003, and chair of the Department of Political Science, 2003-2006. He is currently chair of the Morningside Institutional Review Board (IRB). Off campus, he is the regular Asia and Pacific book reviewer for Foreign Affairs, a member of the steering committee of the Asian Barometer Survey, and a board member of Human Rights in China. He is a former member of the boards of the National Endowment for Democracy, Freedom House, and Human Rights Watch.