Two weeks ago, U.S. President Joe Biden met with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, for the last time before he leaves office on the sidelines of the APEC Summit held in Lima, Peru. At the meeting, Xi offered up four red lines in U.S.-China relations that Beijing insists must not be challenged. Some of them, such as China’s perennial concern over Taiwan, are familiar. But others are less so, and they are significant, because they express much greater concern for defending China’s domestic sovereign interests, including its right to economic development, but also its own vision of democracy, human rights and its political system.
Though delivered to the outgoing Biden administration, Xi’s warning was really addressed to the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump and the U.S. more generally. Most importantly, it covers a comprehensive range of concerns: not just over territory and sovereignty, but also regarding the threat of U.S. economic sanctions and export controls that might limit China’s development, as well as other actions that might undermine domestic political stability under Communist Party rule.
Xi’s remarks set the stage for renewed contention and conflict with the Trump administration as the incoming president’s team working on China policy comes into shape. So far major appointments include Sen. Marco Rubio as secretary of state-nominee, Rep. Mike Waltz as national security adviser and Alex Wong as his principal deputy national security adviser. These picks indicate continuity between the two Trump administrations and a continued emphasis on ideological differences between the U.S. and China. For all the talk about Trump’s proclivity for a transactional approach to foreign policy, he seems intent on appointing people with strong ideological views who are not easy to bargain with.