U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at NATO headquarters after a meeting with foreign ministers of NATO members on March 24.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday (March 24) at NATO that the United States will not force any NATO ally to choose sides between the United States and China. But he warned that the West needs to demonstrate the superiority of democracy to authoritarian countries.
“The United States will not force allies to make an ‘or us or them’ choice between the U.S. and China,” Blinken said at NATO headquarters, according to Reuters.
He said countries can work with China in areas where it is feasible. He said climate change is one area where cooperation with China is needed. But Blinken also accused Beijing of undermining the international trade order established by the U.S. and its allies after World War II.
“They (the Chinese Communist Party) are actively working to weaken the rules of the international system and the values that we share with our allies.” Blinken said in a speech standing in front of the flags of 30 NATO members.
“If we work together to achieve our positive vision of the international order …… then we are certain that we can outperform China (the Chinese Communist Party) in any competitive environment.” He said.
He also said the Chinese Communist Party’s military ambitions are also growing.
Blinken also visited European Union headquarters later Wednesday. He urged the EU to come together to defend liberal values and human rights.
“There is a fundamental debate about whether democracy or dictatorship is the best way forward. I think we should stand together and show the world that democracy can deliver for our people.” Blinken said.
Blinken also emphasized Wednesday the power of united resistance to communism. He said, “When we act together, we are much stronger and much more effective than either side acting alone.” He also noted that the United States accounts for about 25 percent of global GDP, but with its European and Asian allies, it accounts for as much as 60 percent, and “it’s harder for Beijing to ignore that.”
Prior to Blinken’s visit to Europe, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada coordinated their actions to impose sanctions on Chinese Communist Party officials who violated human rights in Xinjiang. The Chinese Communist Party immediately imposed retaliatory sanctions on the EU. The move was met with swift protests from EU member states. The Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Lithuania and Italy summoned the CCP ambassador to say that the CCP’s retaliation was unacceptable.
After taking office, the Biden administration returned to the Paris Climate Agreement and tried to cooperate with the CCP on climate issues. But expert analysis suggests that such cooperation would not only hurt the U.S. economy, but would present the U.S. with the challenge of relying on the CCP, while the CCP could benefit from it.
In a Feb. 21 Wall Street Journal editorial titled “Why Beijing Loves Biden and Paris,” the Wall Street Journal wrote that the U.S. officially rejoined the Paris Climate Accord to much media and European applause. We suspect that China (the Chinese Communist Party) is the happiest because it knows that the agreement will limit U.S. energy development, while Beijing gets a free ride for at least a decade, i.e., it doesn’t have to worry about restrictions on its development with emissions requirements.
Nadia Schadlow, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, warned in a March 19 opinion piece in The Hill that U.S. climate policy, which includes reducing greenhouse gas emissions from energy and transportation, could lead to U.S. dependence on China. That’s because such policies would shift the U.S. away from fossil fuels and toward reliance on lithium-ion batteries. But China dominates the lithium-ion battery industry.
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