Since assuming the U.S. Presidency on January 20, Joseph R. Biden Jr. has primarily focused his attention onto domestic issues such as managing the widespread COVID-19 pandemic that is sweeping across America, moving a massive $1.9 Trillion economic recovery program through Congress while also taking several landmark actions in the foreign affairs arena.
During his first day in the White House, Mr. Biden signed 17 executive orders, including:
-
Returning the U.S. to full participation in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change
-
Returning U.S. membership in the World Health Organization, and
-
Reversing travel restrictions that had previously banned nationals from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States.
Mr. Biden delivered his first foreign policy speech for the new administration on February 4 at the State Department and on February 19, he attended the G7 Summit and the Munich Security Conference for the first time as president. These “three firsts” are the signal events. In particular, in order to highlight the importance of allies, Mr. Biden created a historical precedent for the incumbent president of the U.S. to participate in the Munich Security Conference.
As the Chinese saying goes, “A new broom sweeps clean”.
These three key diplomatic actions carried out by Mr. Biden should be considered in Chinese terms as his “three brooms” in the diplomatic field. These “three brooms” then serve as future indicators of Mr. Biden’s foreign policy.
“Three brooms” also allude to the central theme of Mr. Biden’s foreign policy which is nothing less than re-establishing U.S.’ global leadership.
Mr. Biden’s speeches at both the State Department and the Munich Security Conference emphasized that “America is Back”.
Twice in one sentence for emphasis.
The unmistakable implication by Mr. Biden was that the Trump administration has lost the “real America”. The most important damage done to the U.S. over the past four years by the Trump administration’s unilateralist policies propelled its decline from the global leadership stage and the sliding image of the U.S. as a nation (i.e. soft power).
Mr. Biden & Trump (source: CGTN)
Mr. Biden’s diplomatic priority since taking office has clearly been to “set things right” by reclaiming the “real” U.S.
The underlying intention behind the “America is back” declaration is the affirmation Mr. Biden previously stated in his February 2020 Foreign Affairs article entitled, “Why America Must Lead Again” where he said: “For 70 years, the United States, under Democratic and Republican presidents, played a leading role in writing the rules, forging the agreements, and animating the institutions that guide relations among nations and advance collective security and prosperity - until Trump. If we continue his abdication of that responsibility, then one of two things will happen: either someone else will take the United States’ place, but not in a way that advances our interests and values, or no one will, and chaos will ensue.”
Whether it is rejoining international organizations, resuming past immigration policies or attending the 2021 Munich Security Conference aiming to repair the transatlantic alliance, all combine to set the foundation for moving forward to re-establish U.S.’s global leadership role.
“Three brooms” show that Mr. Biden seeks to make democratic values and the unified power of America’s allies as the crucial way forward for the United States.
The American “establishment” sees democratic values and allies as two of America’s strengths and sources of national power. Faced with repairing the “damage” brought to the U.S. by the Trump administration’s populist, far-right and white supremacist-driven “America First” policies over the past four years, Mr. Biden, as the representative of the “establishment” of both parties, attaches great importance to restoring the traditional policies of the “establishment” after entering the White House, and the emphasis on democratic values, the strength of allies and the implementation of multilateralism are the most important manifestations, which are the main threads running through the “three brooms”.
In his speech at the State Department, Mr. Biden mentioned democratic values and the repair of relations with America’s allies as the strength and source of power to deal with future challenges.
At the Munich Security Conference, Mr. Biden said, “...the United States is determined - determined to re-engage with Europe, to consult with you, to earn back our position of trusted leadership.” At the G7 summit, he stressed, “How the United States, Europe and Asia work together to ensure peace, defend our shared values and promote our prosperity throughout the Pacific will be one of our most important efforts.”
Once again, the return to the Paris Agreement, membership in the World Health Organization, the reversal of the Trump administration’s Muslim travel restrictions and the participation in the 2021 Munich Security Conference fully reflect the idea of strengthening alliances with democratic values as a bond.
“Three brooms” also propose that Mr. Biden’s foreign policy is internally focused on serving to rebuild a strong America and externally fixated on dealing with Chinese competition.
The Biden administration believes that to achieve the goal of rebuilding U.S. global leadership, the two most important issues, internally and externally, must be addressed.
The administration believes emphasizing science and technology and infrastructure at home is at the core of rebuilding U.S.’ global leadership. This is an important difference from the Trump administration, which blamed America’s problems on globalization and then promoted an “America First” policy which in reality was to “bully and rob” abroad to “Make America Great Again”.
Diplomacy should serve domestic needs. As Mr. Biden noted in his State Department address, “There’s no longer a bright line between foreign and domestic policy. For every action we take and our conduct abroad, we must take with American working families in mind. Advancing a foreign policy for the middle class demands urgent focus on our domestic economic renewal.”
On the other hand, starting from the diplomacy rooted in American democratic values, the administration emphasizes addressing current and future challenges by repairing relations with its allies and re-engaging with the world community, among which China is the most serious competitor with whom the U.S. and its allies must be prepared for a long and intense strategic competition.
Through Biden’s “three brooms” in the diplomatic arena, it is clear that his future foreign policy will be primarily subordinated to and serve the purpose of rebuilding a strong U.S. economy and addressing the Chinese challenge.
According to National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, there remains synergy between strengthening the internal economy and dealing with China’s competition in the new administration’s foreign policy. In a February 2020 Foreign Policy article titled, “America Needs a New Economic Philosophy. Foreign Policy Experts Can Help”, Mr. Sullivan argued that the emerging great power rivalry between the U.S. and China will ultimately be won or lost by how effectively each country manages its own economy and shapes the global economy.
Jake Sullivan (source: sputniknews)
According to Mr. Sullivan, the decisive factor for the U.S. to win the economic competition with China will be its domestic policies.
To do so, the U.S. needs to do three things:
-
First, to improve its strengths, it must expand funding for investment in basic scientific research, education and infrastructure, continue its immigration policies and continue to improve America’s demographic and scientific strengths.
-
Second, it needs to build reciprocal relationships with its allies and create a new set of regulations to connect Asia and Europe, thereby blocking China out, and
The Trump administration had no problem suppressing Huawei, a leading global provider of information and communications technology infrastructure and smart devices, but there was a problem with the approach. The new Biden administration should instead coordinate and prepare with its allies on Huawei’s alternatives before cracking down on Huawei, which will yield twice the result with half the effort.
(source: sputniknews)
Mr. Sullivan’s view is in line with Mr. Biden’s “three brooms”. Although multilateralism is used to negate Mr. Trump’s “America First” policy and repair alliances based on democratic values, in essence, it is “American interests first” in the name of “multilateralism”, it is in essence “unilateralism” under the guise of “multilateralism”. In other words, in the context of the relative decline of U.S. power and its inability to deal with global challenges alone, democratic values and alliance relations are used as tools to achieve the goal of suppressing competitors and maintaining U.S. global hegemony.
While Mr. Biden’s foreign policy goals are not dissimilar to Mr. Trump’s, there are still significant chasms between his policies as well as specific measures and those of the Trump administration.
Given that more than 70 million Americans voted for Mr. Trump, the former president still wields significant influence throughout Congress and across America.
The democratic values expounded by Mr. Biden are under serious challenge both within the U.S. and throughout the international community. In particular, it remains questionable how much cost the U.S. can bear in bringing in an ally that actively advocates “strategic autonomy”.
Therefore, it remains to be seen whether Mr. Biden’s “three brooms” in the diplomatic field will really make the U.S. flourish.
