The White House on Monday (Nov. 2) released a collection of remarks by President Trump and some of his top officials on China, entitled “Trump on China,” that showcased the Trump administration making what the White House called “the most significant foreign policy shift in the U.S. in a generation.
The National Security Council said in a statement Monday that the United States no longer turns a blind eye to the actions of the People’s Republic of China and “does not hide behind closed doors our criticism of the Communist Party of China” and that the speeches are “a key part of the Trump administration’s efforts to protect the American people”. components”. The statement added that the speeches, taken together, were similar to the “long telegrams” sent from Moscow in 1946 by the American diplomat Kenan, who advocated a policy of containment against the Soviet Union.
The day before Election Day, the White House National Security Council published a book of speeches by President Trump and top administration officials on Chinese affairs, using them to show that, in the face of an increasingly aggressive Beijing, President Trump had taken action to protect the United States and its allies from China’s threats.
In this election, President Trump has made being tough on China a theme of his foreign policy.
The collection, titled Trump on China: Putting America First, was edited by National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien.
In a statement, the NSC said, “The speeches included in this book, beginning with Vice President Pence’s groundbreaking speech in October 2018 and ending with President Trump’s call to action at the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, are key components of this administration’s efforts to protect the American people.”
The statement said the U.S. is no longer turning a blind eye to the actions of the People’s Republic of China and “has not shut the door on our criticism of the Communist Party of China to hide behind it,” while “never before have senior U.S. officials spoken publicly about the challenge China poses to the United States with such candor and consistency.”
In addition to Pence’s China policy speech at the Hudson Institute and President Trump’s remarks on China, the book also includes a series of speeches given around the country this summer by O’Brien, FBI Director Christopher Wray, Attorney General William Barr and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, as well as a speech in Chinese by Deputy National Security Advisor Bomin on the spirit of China’s May Fourth Movement.
The NSC said the speeches achieved several important goals: first, to educate U.S. citizens about the threat that the Chinese Communist Party “poses to their livelihoods, businesses, freedoms and values”; second, to remind U.S. allies and partners “to stand up for their own people, for our common interests and values”; and third, to “confront the propaganda machine at the heart of the Chinese Communist Party’s global strategy.
The statement said: “The competition we face is not China versus the United States. It is the Communist Party of China with its Marxist-Leninist and mercantilist worldview against the world and freedom-loving people everywhere.”
The statement said, “These high-level speeches are meant to counter the propaganda machine that is at the heart of the global strategy of the Communist Party of China. President Trump understands that it is long past time for the United States to counter the message that China is spreading about the alleged strengths of its authoritarian model.”
The statement goes on to say, “President Trump made it clear in his May speech that ‘the United States wants to have an open and constructive relationship with China, but achieving that relationship will require us to vigorously defend our national interests.’ It explains what President Trump means when he calls for vigorous defense of U.S. national interests in the face of China.”
The statement argues that these speeches, taken together, are similar to the “Long Telegrams” that U.S. diplomat George Kennan sent back to the U.S. State Department in 1946 outlining his views on the Soviet Union. Kennan’s long telegrams became the basis for the United States policy of containment against the Soviet Union.
The NSC statement mentioned, however, that the book differed from Kenan’s “Long Telegram” in two important respects. First, the statement said, the “Long Telegram” was the work of a single ambassador, whereas the book contained the words and policies of the president and his most senior officials; second, given China’s population size, economic power, and historic global ambitions, the People’s Republic of China was a more formidable competitor than the Soviet Union at its height.
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