Biden appoints 3 hardliners to his “China team” who helped the Trump administration ban Huawei

President Joe Biden has appointed new members to the new “China Strategy Group,” including Melanie Hart, who helped oversee the review of the Trump administration’s “Clean Network” policy of banning huawei 5G equipment. The Trump Administration‘s “Clean Network” policy, which banned Huawei’s 5G equipment, has been under review.

A few days ago, President Joe Biden said the Defense Department will set up a new task force to deal with the Chinese challenge. Bloomberg reported on Sunday that Biden appointed three new members to the new “China Strategy Group,” whose past rhetoric is consistent with the Trump administration’s hard-line approach to the Chinese Communist Party.

According to Bloomberg, one of the new members of the China Strategy Group is Melanie Hart, a former senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, who helped oversee the review of the Chinese Communist Party. She has helped oversee the review of policies such as the Clean Network, which banned Huawei’s 5G equipment during the Trump administration. Last October, Hart co-authored a report noting that state subsidies have driven the rise of Huawei.

The panel also included Ely Ratner of the Defense Department and Elizabeth Rosenberg of the Treasury Department, both of whom worked at the Center for a New American Security. In a report co-authored by the two, they called for the U.S. to establish an “international alliance” with Japan and the Netherlands to develop semiconductors and diversify the supply chain to get rid of Chinese products.

Bloomberg reported that the Obama administration has been cautious in formulating policies in the past; most of the Trump administration’s policies are under review, but they all convey the message of “working with allies to confront the Chinese Communist Party. Bloomberg concludes that it is still unclear whether the Biden Administration, with many officials from the Obama administration committed to building friendly relations with China, will take a hard line against the Chinese Communist Party.