WASHINGTON – The challenges to the US posed by China exceed those of the Cold War, US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said on Sept 18, charging that Beijing’s support for Russia’s defence industry came directly from China’s leadership.
President Joe Biden’s administration has been explicit that it is not seeking a cold war with China, but increasingly analysts and members of the US Congress have said escalating global competition between the two superpowers resembled a different but new style of cold war.
Mr Campbell told a House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee hearing that Washington needed to maintain a bipartisan focus on China and step up the speed of US naval shipbuilding and the capacity of the US defence manufacturing base.
“Frankly, the Cold War pales in comparison to the multifaceted challenges that China presents. It’s not just the military challenges. It’s across the board. It’s in the Global South. It is in technology,” Mr Campbell said.
Foreign crises, including Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Israel-Gaza conflict, have created distractions for Mr Biden’s efforts to focus on China and the Indo-Pacific region.
Mr Biden vowed early in his administration to not let China surpass the US as global leader.
China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, the leaders of the US’ two most powerful rivals, in May pledged a “new era” of partnership, and cast Washington as an aggressive Cold War hegemon.
Mr Campbell, the State Department’s No. 2 diplomat, said increasing the speed of US warship output should be of the highest priority over the next decade.
“This is a naval time,” Mr Campbell said, calling increasing the speed with which US Navy ships are designed and built “the most important thing that we need to do over the course of the next 10 years.”
“The Navy has to step up. We have to step up with them,” he said.
Mr Campbell, who met with Nato and EU officials earlier in September to provide allies with details of China’s “substantial support” to Russia’s military industrial base, has said Russia was in return supporting Beijing with submarine and missile technology.
“The most worrisome thing is that it comes from the very top,” Mr Campbell said, referring to senior Chinese leaders’ support for Moscow.
He added that China has been supporting Russia’s drone activity in Ukraine. REUTERS
US says challenges posed by China exceed those of Cold War
