布林肯發表美國對華政策演說全文｜中英對照

美國國務卿布林肯5月26日發表演說，概述拜登政府的中國政策。以下為香港01整理的演說全文中文翻譯。全文原載於美國國務院網站。

（美國）對中華人民共和國採取的行政方法

安東尼・布林肯，國務卿

喬治華盛頓大學（舉行演說的地點）

美國華盛頓（舉行演說的城市）

國務卿布林肯：謝謝。早上好。

很高興來到喬治華盛頓大學。這是一個吸引來自世界各地的優秀學生和學者的機構，我們作為一個國家和一個星球所面臨的最緊迫的挑戰被研究和辯論。所以感謝你今天讓我們來到這裏。

我特別要感謝亞洲協會的朋友們，他們致力於與亞洲國家和人民建立更密切的聯繫，努力促進和平、繁榮、自由、平等和可持續發展。感謝您（指協會）今天接待我們，但也感謝您每天的領導。 Kevin Rudd、Wendy Cutler、Danny Russel——所有的同事、所有的思想領袖，還有實幹者，和你在一起總是很棒。

我不得不說，我真的很感謝羅姆尼（Mitt Romney）參議員今天的光臨——一位我非常欽佩的人，一位領導者，一位非常有原則的人，他一直在我們將要討論的主題上發揮領導作用關於今天。參議員，謝謝你的光臨。

我也很高興看到這麼多外交使團成員，因為外交是塑造我們共同未來不可或缺的工具。

在過去兩年中，我們齊心協力抗擊新型冠狀病毒肺炎（COVID-19）大流行，為未來的全球衛生緊急情況做好準備，從經濟衝擊、供應鏈中斷到債務危機中重建，應對氣候變化，並重新構想能源未來這更清潔、更安全、更實惠。

這些努力的共同點是一個簡單的事實，即我們都無法獨自應對這些挑戰。我們必須一起面對他們。

這就是為什麼我們將外交重新置於美國外交政策的中心，以幫助我們實現美國人和世界各地人民所尋求的未來——技術用於提升人們的地位，而不是壓制他們；貿易和商業支持工人、增加收入、創造機會；尊重普世人權的地方；國家免受脅迫和侵略，人民、思想、商品和資本自由流動；各國都可以開闢自己的道路，並在共同的事業中有效地合作。

為了建設這個未來，我們必須捍衛和改革以規則為基礎的國際秩序——世界在兩次世界大戰後共同建立的法律、協議、原則和制度體系，以管理國家之間的關係，防止衝突，維護所有人的權利。

其創始文件包括《聯合國憲章》和《世界人權宣言》，其中載有自決、主權、和平解決爭端等概念。這些不是西方的結構。它們反映了世界的共同願望。

此後的幾十年裏，儘管面臨着艱鉅的挑戰，儘管我們的理想與我們取得的一些成果之間存在差距，但世界各國還是避免了另一場世界大戰，以及核大國之間的武裝衝突。我們建立了一個使數十億人擺脫了貧困全球經濟。我們以前所未有的方式促進人權。

現在，當我們展望未來時，我們不僅要維持使這個國際秩序盡可能取得最多進展，還要使其現代化，確保它代表所有大大小小的、來自不同地區的國家的利益、價值觀和希望；此外，它能夠應對我們現在和未來將面臨的挑戰，其中許多挑戰，超越世界70年前所能想像到的。

但這一結果並不能保證，因為國際秩序的基礎正面臨嚴重和持續的挑戰。

俄羅斯總統普京（Vladimir Putin）構成了明確而現實的威脅。在三個月前俄羅斯襲擊烏克蘭時，他還攻擊了載入《聯合國憲章》的主權和領土完整原則，以保護所有國家不被征服或脅迫。這就是為什麼這麼多國家聯合起來反對這種侵略，因為他們認為這是對本國和平與安全基礎的直接攻擊。

在美國和世界各國前所未有的援助下，烏克蘭正在英勇地捍衛其人民和獨立。雖然戰爭還沒有結束，但普京總統未能實現他的一個戰略目標。他沒有抹去烏克蘭的獨立，而是加強了它。他沒有分裂北約，而是團結了它。他沒有宣揚俄羅斯的實力，而是削弱了它。他非但沒有削弱國際秩序，反而讓各國團結起來捍衛它。

即使普京總統對烏克蘭的戰爭仍在繼續，我們仍將專注於對國際秩序的最嚴重的長期挑戰——這是中華人民共和國構成的。

中國是唯一一個既有重塑國際秩序意圖的國家，也有愈來愈多的經濟、外交、軍事和技術力量來做到這一點。北京的願景將使我們遠離過去75年來維持世界進步的普世價值觀。

中國也是全球經濟不可或缺的一部分，也是我們解決從氣候到新冠肺炎等挑戰的能力的一部分。簡而言之，在可預見的未來，美國和中國必須與對方打交道。

這就是為什麼這是我們當今世界上最複雜和最重要的關係之一。

去年，拜登政府制定並實施了一項綜合戰略，以利用我們的國家實力以及我們無與倫比的盟友和合作夥伴網絡，來實現我們所尋求的未來。

我們不是在尋求衝突或新的冷戰。相反，我們決心避免兩者。

我們不尋求阻止中國作為大國發揮作用，也不阻止中國——或任何其他國家——發展經濟或促進人民利益。

但我們將捍衛和加強維護和平與安全的國際法、協議、原則和機構，保護個人和主權國家的權利，並使包括美國和中國在內的所有國家能夠共存與合作。

現在，今天的中國與50年前的中國截然不同，當時尼克遜總統（Richard Nixon）打破了數十年的緊張關係，成為第一位訪問該國的美國總統。

然後，中國被孤立，並與廣泛的貧困和飢餓鬥爭。

現在，中國是一個具有非凡影響力和野心的全球大國。它是全球第二大經濟體，擁有世界級的城市和公共交通網絡。它是一些世界上最大的科技公司的所在地，它尋求主導未來的科技和行業。它正在迅速對其軍隊進行現代化改造，並打算成為具有全球影響力的頂級戰鬥力量。它還宣布在印太地區建立勢力範圍並成為世界大國的野心。

中國的轉變是因為中國人民的才華、聰明才智和辛勤工作。國際秩序提供的穩定性和機遇也使這成為可能。可以說，地球上沒有哪個國家比中國從中受益更多。

但與其說使用它的權力加強和振興使其成功的法律、協議、原則和制度，以便其他國家也能從中受益，北京卻正在破壞它們。在習主席的領導下，執政的中國共產黨在國內變得更加壓制，在國外變得更加咄咄逼人。

我們看到北京如何改善中國境內的大規模監控並將該技術出口到80多個國家；它如何在南海推進非法海洋主張，破壞和平與安全、航行自由和商業；它如何規避或違反貿易規則，傷害美國乃至世界各地的工人和公司；以及它如何聲稱捍衛主權和領土完整，同時與公然違反它們的政府站在一起。

即使在俄羅斯明顯動員起來入侵烏克蘭的時候，習主席和普京總統也宣稱他們國家之間的友誼是——我引用——「無限」。就在本週，拜登總統訪問日本時，中國和俄羅斯共同在該區以戰略轟炸機進行巡邏。

普京總統為消除烏克蘭主權以及確保其在歐洲建立勢力範圍而發動戰爭，北京為其辯護，應為我們所有以印太地區為家的人敲響警鐘。

由於這些原因以及更多原因，這對世界來說是一個引發激烈爭議的時刻。在這樣的時候，外交是至關重要的。這是我們如何表達我們深切的關切，更好地理解彼此的觀點，並且對彼此的意圖沒懷疑。我們隨時準備就各種問題加強與北京的直接溝通。我們希望這能夠發生。

但我們不能指望北京改變它的軌跡。因此，我們將塑造北京周邊的戰略環境，以推進我們對開放、包容的國際體系的願景。

拜登總統認為，這十年將是決定性的。我們在國內和與世界各國採取的行動將決定我們對未來的共同願景能否實現。

為了在這個決定性的十年取得成功，拜登政府的戰略可以用三個詞來概括——「投資、調整、競爭」。

我們將投資於我們在國內的實力基礎——我們的競爭力、我們的創新、我們的民主。

我們將與我們的盟友和合作夥伴網絡保持一致，以共同的目的和共同的事業行事。

利用這兩項關鍵資產，我們將與中國競爭以捍衛我們的利益並建立我們對未來的願景。

我們充滿信心地迎接這一挑戰。 我們的國家擁有許多優勢。 我們擁有和平的鄰居、多樣化且不斷增長的人口、豐富的資源、世界儲備貨幣、地球上最強大的軍隊以及蓬勃發展的創新和創業文化，例如，這種文化生產出多種有效的疫苗，現在可以保護全世界的人們免受新冠肺炎的侵害。

而我們的開放社會，在最好的情況下，吸引人才和投資的流動，並具有經過時間考驗的重塑能力，植根於我們的民主，使我們能夠應對我們面臨的任何挑戰。

首先，關於投資我們的實力。

二戰後，當我們和我們的合作夥伴建立基於規則的秩序時，我們的聯邦政府也在對科學研究、教育、基礎設施、勞動力進行戰略投資，創造了數百萬的中產階級就業機會和數十年的繁榮和技術領先。但我們認為這些基礎是理所當然的。所以是時候回歸基礎了。

拜登政府正在對我們的核心國力來源進行深遠的投資——從現代產業戰略開始，以維持和擴大我們的經濟和技術影響力，使我們的經濟和供應鏈更具彈性，增強我們的競爭優勢。

去年，拜登總統簽署了我們歷史上最大的基礎設施投資的法律：對我們的高速公路、港口、機場、鐵路和橋樑進行現代化改造；更快地將貨物推向市場，提高我們的生產力；將高速互聯網擴展到全國每個角落；為美國更多地區吸引更多企業和更多就業機會。

我們正在對教育和工人培訓進行戰略投資，以便美國工人——世界上最好的——能夠設計、建造和操作未來的技術。

因為我們的產業戰略以技術為中心，我們希望投資於研究、開發和先進製造。六十年前，我們的政府在研究上的投入佔我們經濟的比例是現在的兩倍多——這些投資反過來又促進了私營部門的創新。這就是我們贏得太空競賽、發明半導體、建立互聯網的方式。過去，我們在研發領域佔GDP的比例位居世界第一——現在我們排在第九位。與此同時，中國從第八位上升到第二位。

在兩黨國會的支持下，我們將扭轉這些趨勢，並對研究和創新進行歷史性投資，包括人工智能、生物技術、量子電腦等領域。這些是北京決心在此領導的領域——但鑑於美國的優勢，競爭是我們輸的，不僅在開發新技術方面，而且在塑造它們在世界各地的使用方式方面，以便它們植根於民主價值觀，而不是專制價值觀。

領導層——參議員羅姆尼和其他人——眾議院和參議院已經通過了支持這一議程的法案，包括數十億美元在這裏生產半導體並加強其他關鍵供應鏈。現在我們需要國會將立法送交總統簽署。

我們可以完成這件事，已不能再等了——供應鏈現在正在運轉，如果我們不把它們拉到這裏，它們就會在其他地方建立起來。正如拜登總統所說，中國共產黨正在遊說反對這項立法——因為沒有比實現國內復興更好的方式來提高我們的全球地位和影響力。這些投資不僅會使美國變得更強大；他們將使我們成為更強大的合作夥伴和盟友。

美國最強大，甚至最神奇的事情之一是，長期以來，我們一直是來自地球各地有才華、有動力的人的目的地。其中包括數百萬來自中國的學生，他們豐富了我們的社區並與美國人建立了終生的紐帶。去年，儘管發生了大流行，我們在短短四個月內就向中國學生發放了超過100,000個簽證，這是我們有史以來的最高比率。我們很高興他們選擇在美國學習——我們很幸運擁有他們。

當全球最優秀的人才不僅在這裏學習而且留在這裏時，我們很幸運——正如近年來在美國攻讀科學和技術博士學位的中國學生中超過80%所做的那樣。他們幫助推動國內的創新，這對我們所有人都有好處。我們可以在不關閉門戶的情況下對我們的國家安全保持警惕。

我們與中國共產黨和中國政府有着深刻的分歧。但這些差異存在於政府和系統之間，而不是我們的人民之間。美國人民非常尊重中國人民。我們尊重他們的成就、他們的歷史和他們的文化。我們非常重視將我們聯繫在一起的家庭和友誼紐帶。我們真誠地希望我們的政府在關係到他們的生活和美國人的生活以及世界各地人民的生活的問題上共同努力。

在這個決定性的十年裏，我們將依賴另一個核心國力來源：我們的民主。

一百年前，如果問什麼是一個國家的財富，我們可能會列出我們的國土面積、人口規模、軍隊實力、自然資源豐富程度。值得慶幸的是，我們在所有這些屬性上仍然很富有。但是，在這個21世紀，相比往任何時候，一個國家的真正財富更重要的是我們的人民——我們的人力資源——以及我們釋放他們全部潛力的能力。

我們用我們的民主制度來做到這一點。我們辯論，我們爭論，我們不同意，我們互相挑戰，包括我們當選的領導人。我們公開處理我們的不足；我們不會假裝它們不存在或將它們掃在地毯下。儘管進展可能會讓人感到痛苦的緩慢、困難和醜陋，但總的來說，我們始終致力在我們的國家價值觀指引下，建設一個社會，讓來自不同背景的人都能蓬勃發展，這個國家價值觀團結、激勵和提升我們。

我們並不完美。但在我們盡己所能，我們總是努力成為——用我們憲法的話說——一個更完美的聯盟。我們的民主旨在實現這一目標。

這就是美國人民和美國模式所提供的，也是這場競賽中最強大的資產之一。

現在，北京認為它的模式更好。黨領導的中央集權制度更有效，更少混亂，最終優於民主。我們不尋求改變中國的政治制度。我們的任務是再次證明民主能夠應對緊迫的挑戰、創造機會、促進人類尊嚴；未來屬於那些相信自由的人，所有國家都可以在不受脅迫的情況下自由規劃自己的道路。

拜登總統本週在該區的訪問中強調了這些優先事項，他重申了我們與韓國和日本的重要安全聯盟，並深化了我們與兩國的經濟和技術合作。

他發起了「印太經濟框架」（IPEF），這是該區首創的倡議。用總統的話來說，它將「幫助我們所有國家的經濟更快、更公平地增長」。正如我們所說，IPEF更新了美國的經濟領導地位，但通過解決數碼經濟、供應鏈、清潔能源、基礎設施和腐敗等前沿問題使其適應 21世紀。包括印度在內的十幾個國家已經加入。 IPEF成員合計佔全球經濟的三分之一以上。

總統還參加了四國領導人峰會——澳洲、日本、印度和美國。在拜登總統上任之前，四方從未在領導人層面舉行過會議。自他去年召開第一次領導人會議以來，四方已舉行了四次峰會。它已成為領先的區域團隊。本週，它啟動了新的「印太海域意識夥伴關係」（Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness ，IPMDA），以便我們在該地區的合作夥伴能對其海岸附近的水域監測得更好，以解決非法捕魚問題並保護其海洋權利和主權。

我們正在重振與東盟（ASEAN）的夥伴關係。本月早些時候，我們主辦了美國-東盟峰會，共同探討公共衛生和氣候危機等緊迫問題。本週，七個東盟國家成為印太經濟框架的創始成員。我們正在印度-太平洋和歐洲夥伴之間架起橋樑，包括邀請亞洲盟友參加下個月在馬德里舉行的北約峰會。

我們正在加強印太地區的和平與穩定；例如，澳洲、英國和美國之間的新安全夥伴關係，稱為澳英美聯盟（AUKUS）。

我們正在幫助該地區和世界各地的國家戰勝新冠肺炎。迄今為止，美國已為全球大流行應對提供了近200億美元。這包括捐贈的超過5.4億劑安全有效的疫苗——不是賣的——不附加任何政治條件，我們正在向全球提供12億劑疫苗。我們正在與一個由19個國家組成的小組進行協調，制定一項全球行動計劃，以讓疫苗注射到人們的手臂。

由於所有這些外交，我們與印太地區的合作夥伴更加一致，我們正在以更加協調的方式朝着我們的共同目標努力。

我們還在大西洋彼岸加深了我們的聯盟。去年，我們成立了美國-歐盟貿易和技術委員會（U.S.-EU Trade & Technology Council），其總和佔全球GDP的近50%。上週，我與雷蒙多部長（美國商務部長）、戴大使（美國貿易代表戴琪）和我們的歐盟委員會同行一起參加了我們的第二次會議，共同制定新技術標準、協調投資篩选和出口管制、加強供應鏈、促進綠色科技、改善糧食安全和數字化發展中國家的基礎設施。

同時，我們和我們的歐洲合作夥伴擱置了長達17年的飛機訴訟；現在，我們不再互相爭論，而是努力為我們的公司和業內工人確保公平的競爭環境。

同樣，我們與歐盟和其他國家合作解決鋼鐵和鋁進口爭端，現在我們就更高的氣候標準、保護我們的工人和行業免受北京行為影響的共同願景而走在一起。北京為了其利益蓄意扭曲市場。

我們正在與歐盟合作，保護我們公民的隱私，同時加強依賴大量數據流的共享數碼經濟。

通過G20，我們就全球最低稅收達成了一項具有里程碑意義的協議，以制止逐底競爭，確保大公司公平地支令它的份額，並為各國提供更多資源來投資於本國人民。迄今為止，已有130多個國家簽署。

我們和我們的G7合作夥伴正在尋求一種協調一致、高標準和透明的方法，以滿足發展中國家巨大的基礎設施需求。

我們召開了關於戰勝新冠肺炎恢復全球民主的全球峰會，並重新加入了聯合國人權理事會和世界衛生組織。

在面臨巨大考驗的時刻，我們和我們的盟友重新為北約注入了活力，它現在一如既往地強大。

這些行動都旨在捍衛並在必要時改革應使所有國家受益的基於規則的秩序。我們希望在科技、氣候、基礎設施、全球健康和包容性經濟增長方面引領競爭。我們希望加強一個體系，讓盡可能多的國家能夠團結起來進行有效合作，和平解決分歧，以主權平等的身份譜寫自己的未來。

我們的外交建立在夥伴關係和尊重彼此利益的基礎上。我們並不期望每個國家對中國的評價都和我們一樣。我們知道，包括美國在內的許多國家都希望與中國保持重要的經濟或人文聯繫。這不是關於強迫各國做出選擇。這是關於給他們一個選擇，所以，例如，這唯一的選擇不是不透明的投資、不會讓國家陷入債務、助長腐敗、損害環境、無法創造當地就業或增長，並損害各國行使他們的主權。這些交易的可留下悔恨，我們親耳聽到買家這麼說。

在每一步，我們都在與我們的合作夥伴協商，傾聽他們的意見，將他們的擔憂放在心上，構建解決方案，解決他們所面對獨特挑戰和優先事項的。

人們愈來愈一致地認為，需要以更加現實的態度處理與北京的關係。我們的許多合作夥伴已經從痛苦的經歷中知道，當他們做出不喜歡的選擇時，北京會如何嚴厲打擊。就像去年春天一樣，當時北京禁止中國學生和遊客前往澳洲，並對澳洲大麥出口徵收80%的關稅，因為洲政府呼籲對新冠肺炎的來源進行獨立調查。或者去年11月，中國海岸警衛隊船隻使用高壓水炮阻止一艘菲律賓海軍艦艇在南中國海的補給。此類行動提醒世界北京如何對他們認為的反對派進行反制。

我們與盟友和合作夥伴還有另一個共同點：人權。

美國與世界各國和人民站在一起，反對在新疆地區發生的種族滅絕和反人類罪行，超過一百萬人因種族和宗教身份被關押在拘留營。

我們在西藏站在一起，那裏的當局繼續對藏人及其文化、語言和宗教傳統進行殘酷的運動，在香港，中國共產黨打着國家安全為幌子，實施嚴厲的反民主措施。

現在，北京堅稱這些在某種程度上是其他人無權提出的內部事務。那是錯的。它對待新疆和西藏少數民族和宗教少數群體的做法以及許多其他行為違背了北京不斷引用的《聯合國憲章》的核心原則以及所有國家都應該遵守的《世界人權宣言》。

北京撤消了香港的自由，違反進行主權移交的承諾，這也載於存放在聯合國的一個條約中。

我們將繼續提出這些問題並呼籲改變——不是反去對中國，而是捍衛和平、安全和人類尊嚴。

這將我們帶到了我們戰略的第三個要素。由於增加了對國內的投資以及與盟友和合作夥伴的更緊密的合作，我們已做好準備在關鍵領域超越中國。

例如，北京希望將自己置於全球創新和製造業的中心，增加其他國家的技術依賴，然後利用這種依賴強加其外交政策偏好。北京將不遺餘力地贏得這場競賽——例如，利用我們經濟的開放性進行間諜活動、黑客攻擊、竊取技術和訣竅，以推進其軍事創新並鞏固其監視狀態。

因此，當我們確保美國及其盟國和合作夥伴掀起下一波創新浪潮時，我們還將保護自己免受竊取我們的知識產權或危及我們安全的努力。

我們正在磨礪我們的工具來保護我們的技術競爭力。這包括新的和更嚴格的出口管制，以確保我們的關鍵創新不會落入壞人之手；加強對學術研究的保護，為科學創造一個開放、安全和支持性的環境；更好的網絡防禦；加強敏感數據的安全性；採取更嚴格的投資篩選措施，以保護公司和國家免受北京獲取敏感技術、數據或關鍵基礎設施的努力；破壞我們的供應鏈；或主導關鍵戰略領域。

我們相信——我們希望商界能夠理解——進入中國市場的代價絕不應是犧牲我們的核心價值觀或長期競爭和技術優勢。我們指望企業負責任地追求增長，冷靜地評估風險，並與我們合作，不僅保護而且加強我們的國家安全。

長期以來，中國公司進入我們市場的機會遠遠超過我們在中國的公司。例如，美國人想看《中國日報》或通過微信進行交流是免費的，但《紐約時報》和Twitter對用中國人來說是禁止的，除非那些為政府工作的人利用這些平台傳播宣傳和虛假訊息。在華經營的美國公司一直承受系統性的強制技術轉讓，而在美的中國公司則受到我們法治的保護。中國電影人可以在不受美國政府審查的情況下向美國影院所有者自由推銷他們的電影，但北京嚴格限制允許進入中國市場的外國電影的數量，獲准進入市場的電影受到嚴厲的政治審查。在美國的中國企業不怕利用我們公正的法律體係來維護自己的權利——事實上，他們經常在法庭上對美國政府提出索賠。但在中國的外國公司來說，情況並非如此。

這種缺乏互惠是不可接受的，也是不可持續的。

或者想一下鋼鐵市場發生了什麼。北京指示中國公司進行大規模的過度投資，然後用廉價鋼鐵充斥全球市場。與美國公司和其他以市場為導向的公司不同，中國公司不需要盈利——它們只是在資金不足時再次注入國有銀行信貸。此外，他們幾乎沒有控制污染或保護工人的權利，這也降低了成本。因此，中國現在佔全球鋼鐵產量的一半以上，迫使美國公司以及印度、墨西哥、印尼、歐洲和其他地方的工廠退出市場。

我們在太陽能電池板、電動汽車電池——21世紀經濟的關鍵領域——我們不能讓它們完全依賴中國時看到了同樣的模式。

像這樣的經濟操縱已經讓美國工人失去了數百萬個工作崗位。他們傷害了世界各國的工人和公司。我們將抵制扭曲市場的政策和做法，例如補貼和市場准入壁壘，中國政府多年來一直利用這些政策和做法來獲得競爭優勢。我們在製藥和關鍵礦產等敏感行業將通過讓生產回流或從其他國家採購材料來提高供應鏈的安全性和彈性，這樣我們就不會依賴任何一家供應商。我們將與其他人站在一起反對經濟脅迫和恐嚇。我們將努力確保美國公司不從事促進或利好侵犯人權行為（包括強迫勞動）的商業活動。

簡而言之，我們將用我們擁有的一切工具為美國工人和工業而戰——正如我們知道我們的合作夥伴將為他們的工人而戰一樣。

美國不想將中國經濟與我們的經濟或全球經濟割裂——儘管北京儘管言辭激烈，但仍在尋求不對稱的脫鉤，試圖讓中國減少對世界的依賴，以及讓世界更加依賴中國。就我們而言，我們想要貿易和投資，只要它們是公平的並且不危害我們的國家安全。中國擁有強大的經濟資源，包括高素質的勞動力。我們相信，我們的員工、我們的公司將在公平的競爭環境中成功地競爭——我們歡迎這種競爭。

因此，當我們以負責任的方式抵制不公平的技術和經濟做法時，我們將努力維護連接美國和中國的經濟和民間聯繫，這符合我們的利益和價值觀。北京可能不願意改變自己的行為。但如須採取具體行動以解決我們和許多其他國家表達的關切，我們將作出積極回應。

競爭不一定會導致衝突。我們不尋求它。我們將努力避免它。但我們將捍衛我們的利益免受任何威脅。

為此，拜登總統已指示國防部將中國作為其步步進逼的挑戰（pacing challenge），以確保我們的軍隊保持領先。我們將尋求通過一種我們稱之為「綜合威懾」的新方法來維護和平——引入盟友和合作夥伴；在常規、核、空間和資訊領域開展工作；利用我們在經濟、技術和外交方面不斷增強的優勢。

政府正在將我們的軍事投資從為20世紀衝突設計的平台轉向射程更遠、更難找到、更容易移動的不對稱系統。我們正在開發新的概念來指引我們如何進行軍事行動。我們正在使我們的部隊態勢和全球足跡多樣化，加強我們的網絡、重要的民用基礎設施和天基能力。我們也將幫助我們在該區的盟友和合作夥伴利用他們自己的不對稱能力。

我們將繼續反對北京在南海和東海的侵略和非法活動。近六年前，一個國際法庭認定北京在南海的主張沒有國際法依據。我們將支持該地區沿海國家維護其海洋權利。我們將與盟國和合作夥伴一起維護航行和飛越自由，這使該地區幾十年來一直繁榮。我們將繼續在國際法允許的地方飛行和航行。

在台灣，我們的做法在幾十年和幾屆政府中都是一致的。正如總統所說，我們的政策沒有改變。美國仍然致力於我們的「一個中國」政策，該政策以《台灣關係法》、三個聯合公報、六項保證為指引。我們反對任何一方單方面改變現狀；我們不支持台獨；我們期待兩岸分歧以和平方式解決。

我們在台海地區的和平與穩定始終有悠久的利益。我們將繼續履行我們在《台灣關係法》（TRA）下的承諾，協助台灣保持足夠的自衛能力，並且正如TRA中所指出的，「就任何形式的訴諸武力或其他形式的脅迫危害可能台灣的安全或社會或經濟制度，（我們）保持我們抵抗的能力。」我們與台灣有著牢固的非官方關係，它是一個充滿活力的民主和該區領先的經濟體。我們將繼續擴大與台灣在許多共同利益和價值觀上的合作，支持台灣有意義地參與國際社會，深化我們的經濟聯繫，符合我們的「一個中國」政策。

雖然我們的政策沒有改變，但改變的是北京日益增加的脅迫——比如試圖切斷台灣與世界各國的關係，阻止它參與國際組織。北京的言辭和活動愈來愈具有挑釁性，例如幾乎每天都在台灣附近都有解放軍飛機飛行。這些言行嚴重破壞穩定；他們冒着誤判的風險，威脅到台海的和平與穩定。正如我們從總統與印太地區盟友和夥伴的討論中看到的那樣，維護海峽兩岸的和平與穩定不僅符合美國的利益，而且還符合美國的利益。這是一個國際關注的問題，對區域和全球安全與繁榮至關重要。

正如拜登總統說的那樣，唯一比有意的衝突更糟糕的是一場無意的衝突。我們將負責任地管理這種關係，以防止這種情況發生。我們已將與北京的危機溝通和降低風險措施列為優先事項。在這個問題上——以及其他所有問題上——我們仍然致力於在激烈競爭的同時進行密集的外交。

即使在我們投資、結盟和競爭的同時，我們也會與北京合作，共同利益。我們不能讓分裂我們的分歧阻止我們在需要我們共同努力的優先事項上向前邁進，這是為了我們人民的利益和世界的利益。

這要從氣候開始。中國和美國多年來在氣候問題上陷入僵局，這使世界陷入僵局——但也有一些進步時期，這激發了世界的活力。 2013年中美啟動的氣候外交頻道釋放了產生《巴黎協定》的全球動力。去年在第26屆聯合國氣候變化大會（COP26）上，當美國和中國發表我們的格拉斯哥聯合聲明，共同解決甲烷到煤炭的排放問題時，世界的希望得到了支持。

氣候與意識形態無關。這是關於數學的。沒有中國的領導，就根本無法解決氣候變化問題，這個國家的排放量佔全球排放量的28%。美國際能源署已經明確表示，如果中國堅持目前的計劃，直到2030年才達到排放峰值，那麼世界其他地區必須在2035年之前達到零排放。這根本不可能。

今天，大約20個國家產生了80%的排放量。中國排名第一。美國排名第二。除非我們都做得更多、更快，否則財務和人力成本將是災難性的。此外，在清潔能源和氣候政策方面的競爭可以產生有益於所有人的結果。

美國和中國共同取得的進展——包括通過格拉斯哥宣言設立的工作組——對於我們成功避免這場危機的最壞後果至關重要。我敦促中國與我們一起加快這些共同努力的步伐。

同樣，在新冠肺炎流行中，我們的命運是聯結在一起的。在中國人民應對這一最新一波疫情時，我們的心與他們同在。我們已經歷過新冠肺炎帶來的磨難。這就是為什麼我們如此堅信所有國家都需要共同努力為世界所有人接種疫苗——不是為了換取恩惠或政治讓步，而是因為一個簡單的原因，即在所有人都安全之前，任何國家都不會安全。所有國家都必須透明地共享數據和樣本——並讓專家前來訪問——以獲取新變種以及新出現和重新出現的病原體，以防止下一次疫情出現，即使我們正在與當前的疫情鬥爭。

在防擴散和軍備控制方面，維護減少大規模殺傷性武器擴散的規則、規範和條約符合我們所有人的利益。中國和美國必須繼續合作，並與其他國家合作，因應伊朗和朝鮮的核計劃。我們仍準備與北京直接討論我們各自作為核大國的責任。

為了打擊非法和非法麻醉品，特別是去年殺死超過10萬美國人的芬太尼等合成鴉片類藥物，我們希望與中國合作，阻止國際販毒組織獲取前體化學品，其中許多化學品來自中國。

由於全球糧食危機威脅着全世界人民，我們期待中國——一個在農業領域取得巨大成就的國家——幫助全球應對。上週在聯合國，美國召開了一次外長會議，以加強全球糧食安全。我們向中國發出了加入邀請。我們將繼續這樣做。

隨着世界經濟從大流行的破壞中復蘇，美國和中國之間的全球宏觀經濟協調是關鍵——通過G20、國際貨幣基金組織（IMF）、其他場所，當然還有雙邊。這個領域是伴隨成為世界上最大的兩個經濟體而來。

簡而言之，我們將在可能的情況下與中國進行建設性接觸，而不是作為對我們或任何其他人的好處，也絕不會以背離我們的原則為代價，而是因為共同努力解決重大挑戰，這是世界對大國的期望，以及因為這直接符合我們的利益。任何國家都不應因為雙邊分歧而在阻礙跨國議題處理的進展。

中華人民共和國構成的挑戰的規模和範圍將對美國外交進行前所未有的考驗。作為我現代化議程的一部分，我決心為國務院和我們的外交官提供他們需要的工具，以應對這一挑戰。這包括建立一個「中國院」（China house）——一個跨部門的綜合團隊，將協調和實施我們在各式問題和地區的政策，並根據需要與國會合作。在這裏，我必須提到我們駐北京大使館和我們在中國各地的領事館的一支優秀團隊，由伯恩斯大使領導。他們每天都做着出色的工作，最近幾週，許多人一直在這些密集的封鎖措施進行同時，完成他們的工作。儘管條件極端，但他們堅持了下來。我們感謝這個了不起的團隊。

我從未如此相信美國外交的力量和目的，也從未如此確信我們有能力應對這個決定性十年的挑戰。致美國人民：讓我們重新承諾投資於我們的核心優勢、我們的人民、我們的民主和我們的創新精神。正如拜登總統經常說的那樣，做空美國從來都不是一個好賭注。但讓我們賭上自己，在未來的競爭得勝。

對於各個致力於建設開放、安全、繁榮的未來的國家，讓我們共同努力，秉持共同進步的原則，捍衛每個國家書寫自己未來的權利。（我們）對中國人民來說：我們將是信心地進行競爭；我們將盡可能合作；我們將在必須競爭的地方競爭。我們沒看到衝突。

我們偉大的國家（指中美兩國）沒理由不能和平共處，共同分享以及一同促進人類進步。這就是我今天所說的一切歸結為：推動人類進步，為我們的孩子留下一個更和平、更繁榮、更自由的世界。

非常感謝您的聆聽。 （掌聲。）

※※※※※

The Administration’s Approach to the People’s Republic of China

ANTONY J. BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE

THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

WASHINGTON, D.C.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you. Good morning.

It’s a real pleasure to be here at The George Washington University. This is an institution that draws outstanding students and scholars from around the world and where the most urgent challenges that we face as a country and a planet are studied and debated. So thank you for having us here today.

And I especially want to thank our friends at the Asia Society, dedicated to forging closer ties with the countries and people of Asia to try to enhance peace, prosperity, freedom, equality, sustainability. Thank you for hosting us today, but thank you for your leadership every day. Kevin Rudd, Wendy Cutler, Danny Russel – all colleagues, all thought leaders, but also doers, and it’s always wonderful to be with you.

And I have to say I am really grateful, Senator Romney, for your presence here today – a man, a leader, that I greatly admire, a person of tremendous principle, who has been leading on the subject that we’re going to talk about today. Senator, thank you for your presence.

And I’m also delighted to see so many members of the diplomatic corps because diplomacy is the indispensable tool for shaping our shared future.

In the past two years we’ve come together to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and prepare for future global health emergencies, rebuild from economic shocks, from supply-chain disruptions to debt crises, and take on climate change, and reimagine an energy future that’s cleaner, more secure, and more affordable.

The common denominator across these efforts is the simple fact that none of us can meet these challenges alone. We have to face them together.

That’s why we’ve put diplomacy back at the center of American foreign policy, to help us realize the future that Americans and people around the world seek – one where technology is used to lift people up, not suppress them; where trade and commerce support workers, raise incomes, create opportunity; where universal human rights are respected; countries are secure from coercion and aggression, and people, ideas, goods, and capital move freely; and where nations can both forge their own paths and work together effectively in common cause.

To build that future, we must defend and reform the rules-based international order – the system of laws, agreements, principles, and institutions that the world came together to build after two world wars to manage relations between states, to prevent conflict, to uphold the rights of all people.

Its founding documents include the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which enshrined concepts like self-determination, sovereignty, the peaceful settlement of disputes. These are not Western constructs. They are reflections of the world’s shared aspirations.

In the decades since, despite daunting challenges and despite the gap between our ideals and some of the results we’ve achieved, the countries of the world have avoided another world war and armed conflict between nuclear powers. We’ve built a global economy that lifted billions of people out of poverty. We’ve advanced human rights as never before.

Now, as we look to the future, we want not just to sustain the international order that made so much of that progress possible, but to modernize it, to make sure that it represents the interests, the values, the hopes of all nations, big and small, from every region; and furthermore, that it can meet the challenges that we face now and will face in the future, many of which are beyond what the world could have imagined seven decades ago.

But that outcome is not guaranteed because the foundations of the international order are under serious and sustained challenge.

Russian President Vladimir Putin poses a clear and present threat. In attacking Ukraine three months ago, he also attacked the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity, enshrined in the UN Charter, to protect all countries from being conquered or coerced. That’s why so many countries have united to oppose this aggression because they see it as a direct assault on the foundation of their own peace and security.

Ukraine is fighting valiantly to defend its people and its independence with unprecedented assistance from the United States and countries around the world. And while the war is not over, President Putin has failed to achieve a single one of his strategic aims. Instead of erasing Ukraine’s independence, he strengthened it. Instead of dividing NATO, he’s united it. Instead of asserting Russia’s strength, he’s undermined it. And instead of weakening the international order, he has brought countries together to defend it.

Even as President Putin’s war continues, we will remain focused on the most serious long-term challenge to the international order – and that’s posed by the People’s Republic of China.

China is the only country with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to do it. Beijing’s vision would move us away from the universal values that have sustained so much of the world’s progress over the past 75 years.

China is also integral to the global economy and to our ability to solve challenges from climate to COVID. Put simply, the United States and China have to deal with each other for the foreseeable future.

That’s why this is one of the most complex and consequential relationships of any that we have in the world today.

Over the last year, the Biden administration has developed and implemented a comprehensive strategy to harness our national strengths and our unmatched network of allies and partners to realize the future that we seek.

We are not looking for conflict or a new Cold War. To the contrary, we’re determined to avoid both.

We don’t seek to block China from its role as a major power, nor to stop China – or any other country, for that matter – from growing their economy or advancing the interests of their people.

But we will defend and strengthen the international law, agreements, principles, and institutions that maintain peace and security, protect the rights of individuals and sovereign nations, and make it possible for all countries – including the United States and China – to coexist and cooperate.

Now, the China of today is very different from the China of 50 years ago, when President Nixon broke decades of strained relations to become the first U.S. president to visit the country.

Then, China was isolated and struggling with widespread poverty and hunger.

Now, China is a global power with extraordinary reach, influence, and ambition. It’s the second largest economy, with world-class cities and public transportation networks. It’s home to some of the world’s largest tech companies and it seeks to dominate the technologies and industries of the future. It’s rapidly modernized its military and intends to become a top tier fighting force with global reach. And it has announced its ambition to create a sphere of influence in the Indo-Pacific and to become the world’s leading power.

China’s transformation is due to the talent, the ingenuity, the hard work of the Chinese people. It was also made possible by the stability and opportunity that the international order provides. Arguably, no country on Earth has benefited more from that than China.

But rather than using its power to reinforce and revitalize the laws, the agreements, the principles, the institutions that enabled its success so that other countries can benefit from them, too, Beijing is undermining them. Under President Xi, the ruling Chinese Communist Party has become more repressive at home and more aggressive abroad.

We see that in how Beijing has perfected mass surveillance within China and exported that technology to more than 80 countries; how its advancing unlawful maritime claims in the South China Sea, undermining peace and security, freedom of navigation, and commerce; how it’s circumventing or breaking trade rules, harming workers and companies in the United States but also around the world; and how it purports to champion sovereignty and territorial integrity while standing with governments that brazenly violate them.

Even while Russia was clearly mobilizing to invade Ukraine, President Xi and President Putin declared that the friendship between their countries was – and I quote – “without limits.” Just this week, as President Biden was visiting Japan, China and Russia conducted a strategic bomber patrol together in the region.

Beijing’s defense of President Putin’s war to erase Ukraine’s sovereignty and secure a sphere of influence in Europe should raise alarm bells for all of us who call the Indo-Pacific region home.

For these reasons and more, this is a charged moment for the world. And at times like these, diplomacy is vital. It’s how we make clear our profound concerns, better understand each other’s perspective, and have no doubt about each other’s intentions. We stand ready to increase our direct communication with Beijing across a full range of issues. And we hope that that can happen.

But we cannot rely on Beijing to change its trajectory. So we will shape the strategic environment around Beijing to advance our vision for an open, inclusive international system.

President Biden believes this decade will be decisive. The actions that we take at home and with countries worldwide will determine whether our shared vision of the future will be realized.

To succeed in this decisive decade, the Biden administration’s strategy can be summed up in three words – “invest, align, compete.”

We will invest in the foundations of our strength here at home – our competitiveness, our innovation, our democracy.

We will align our efforts with our network of allies and partners, acting with common purpose and in common cause.

And harnessing these two key assets, we’ll compete with China to defend our interests and build our vision for the future.

We take on this challenge with confidence. Our country is endowed with many strengths. We have peaceful neighbors, a diverse and growing population, abundant resources, the world’s reserve currency, the most powerful military on Earth, and a thriving culture of innovation and entrepreneurship that, for example, produced multiple effective vaccines now protecting people worldwide from COVID-19.

And our open society, at its best, attracts flows of talent and investment and has a time-tested capacity for reinvention, rooted in our democracy, empowering us to meet whatever challenges we face.

First, on investing in our strength.

After the Second World War, as we and our partners were building the rules-based order, our federal government was also making strategic investments in scientific research, education, infrastructure, our workforce, creating millions of middle-class jobs and decades of prosperity and technology leadership. But we took those foundations for granted. And so it’s time to get back to basics.

The Biden administration is making far-reaching investments in our core sources of national strength – starting with a modern industrial strategy to sustain and expand our economic and technological influence, make our economy and supply chains more resilient, sharpen our competitive edge.

Last year, President Biden signed into law the largest infrastructure investment in our history: to modernize our highways, our ports, airports, rail, and bridges; to move goods to market faster, to boost our productivity; to expand high-speed internet to every corner of the country; to draw more businesses and more jobs to more parts of America.

We’re making strategic investments in education and worker training, so that American workers – the best in the world – can design, build, and operate the technologies of the future.

Because our industrial strategy centers on technology, we want to invest in research, development, advanced manufacturing. Sixty years ago, our government spent more than twice as much on research as a percentage of our economy as we do now – investments that, in turn, catalyzed private-sector innovation. It’s how we won the space race, invented the semiconductor, built the internet. We used to rank first in the world in R&D as a proportion of our GDP – now we’re ninth. Meanwhile, China has risen from eighth place to second.

With bipartisan congressional support, we’ll reverse these trends and make historic investments in research and innovation, including in fields like artificial intelligence, biotechnology, quantum computing. These are areas that Beijing is determined to lead – but given America’s advantages, the competition is ours to lose, not only in terms of developing new technologies but also in shaping how they’re used around the world, so that they’re rooted in democratic values, not authoritarian ones.

The leadership – Senator Romney and others – the House and Senate have passed bills to support this agenda, including billions to produce semiconductors here and to strengthen other critical supply chains. Now we need Congress to send the legislation to the President for his signature.

We can get this done, and it can’t wait – supply chains are moving now, and if we don’t draw them here, they’ll be established somewhere else. As President Biden has said, the Chinese Communist Party is lobbying against this legislation – because there’s no better way to enhance our global standing and influence than to deliver on our domestic renewal. These investments will not only make America stronger; they’ll make us a stronger partner and ally as well.

One of the most powerful, even magical things about the United States is that we have long been a destination for talented, driven people from every part of the planet. That includes millions of students from China, who have enriched our communities and forged lifelong bonds with Americans. Last year, despite the pandemic, we issued more than 100,000 visas to Chinese students in just four months – our highest rate ever. We’re thrilled that they’ve chosen to study in the United States – we’re lucky to have them.

And we’re lucky when the best global talent not only studies here but stays here – as more than 80 percent of Chinese students who pursue science and technology PhDs in the United States have done in recent years. They help drive innovation here at home, and that benefits all of us. We can stay vigilant about our national security without closing our doors.

We also know from our history that when we’re managing a challenging relationship with another government, people from that country or with that heritage can be made to feel that they don’t belong here – or that they’re our adversaries. Nothing could be further from the truth. Chinese Americans made invaluable contributions to our country; they’ve done so for generations. Mistreating someone of Chinese descent goes against everything we stand for as a country – whether a Chinese national visiting or living here, or a Chinese American, or any other Asian American whose claim to this country is equal to anyone else’s. Racism and hate have no place in a nation built by generations of immigrants to fulfill the promise of opportunity for all.

We have profound differences with the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese Government. But those differences are between governments and systems – not between our people. The American people have great respect for the Chinese people. We respect their achievements, their history, their culture. We deeply value the ties of family and friendship that connect us. And we sincerely wish for our governments to work together on issues that matter to their lives and to the lives of Americans, and for that matter the lives of people around the world.

There’s another core source of national strength that we’ll be relying on in this decisive decade: our democracy.

A hundred years ago, if asked what constitutes the wealth of a nation, we might list the expanse of our land, the size of our population, the strength of our military, the abundance of our natural resources. And thankfully, we’re still wealthy in all of those attributes. But more than ever, in this 21st century, the true wealth of a nation is found in our people – our human resources – and our ability to unleash their full potential.

We do that with our democratic system. We debate, we argue, we disagree, we challenge each other, including our elected leaders. We deal with our deficiencies openly; we don’t pretend they don’t exist or sweep them under the rug. And though progress can feel painfully slow, can be difficult and ugly, by and large we consistently work toward a society where people from all backgrounds can flourish, guided by national values that unite, motivate, and uplift us.

We are not perfect. But at our best, we always strive to be – in the words of our Constitution – a more perfect union. Our democracy is designed to make that happen.

That’s what the American people and the American model offer, and it’s one of the most powerful assets in this contest.

Now, Beijing believes that its model is the better one; that a party-led centralized system is more efficient, less messy, ultimately superior to democracy. We do not seek to transform China’s political system. Our task is to prove once again that democracy can meet urgent challenges, create opportunity, advance human dignity; that the future belongs to those who believe in freedom and that all countries will be free to chart their own paths without coercion.

The second piece of our strategy is aligning with our allies and partners to advance a shared vision for the future.

From day one, the Biden administration has worked to re-energize America’s unmatched network of alliances and partnerships and to re-engage in international institutions. We’re encouraging partners to work with each other, and through regional and global organizations. And we’re standing up new coalitions to deliver for our people and meet the tests of the century ahead.

Nowhere is this more true than in the Indo-Pacific region, where our relationships, including our treaty alliances, are among our strongest in the world.

The United States shares the vision that countries and people across the region hold: one of a free and open Indo-Pacific where rules are developed transparently and applied fairly; where countries are free to make their own sovereign decisions; where goods, ideas, and people flow freely across land, sky, cyberspace, the open seas, and governance is responsive to the people.

President Biden reinforced these priorities this week with his trip to the region, where he reaffirmed our vital security alliances with South Korea and Japan, and deepened our economic and technology cooperation with both countries.

He launched the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity, a first-of-its-kind initiative for the region. It will, in the President’s words, “help all our countries’ economies grow faster and fairer.” IPEF, as we call it, renews American economic leadership but adapts it for the 21st century by addressing cutting-edge issues like the digital economy, supply chains, clean energy, infrastructure, and corruption. A dozen countries, including India, have already joined. Together, IPEF members make up more than a third of the global economy.

The President also took part in the leaders’ summit of the Quad countries – Australia, Japan, India, the United States. The Quad never met at the leader level before President Biden took office. Since he convened the first leaders’ meeting last year, the Quad has held four summits. It’s become a leading regional team. This week, it launched a new Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness, so our partners across the region can better monitor the waters near their shores to address illegal fishing and protect their maritime rights and their sovereignty.

We’re reinvigorating our partnership with ASEAN. Earlier this month, we hosted the U.S.-ASEAN Summit to take on urgent issues like public health and the climate crisis together. This week, seven ASEAN countries became founding members of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. And we’re building bridges among our Indo-Pacific and European partners, including by inviting Asian allies to the NATO summit in Madrid next month.

We’re enhancing peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific; for example, with the new security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, known as AUKUS.

And we’re helping countries in the region and around the world defeat COVID-19. To date, the United States has provided nearly $20 billion to the global pandemic response. That includes more than 540 million doses of safe and effective vaccines donated – not sold – with no political strings attached, on our way to 1.2 billion doses worldwide. And we’re coordinating with a group of 19 countries in a global action plan to get shots into arms.

As a result of all of this diplomacy, we are more aligned with partners across the Indo-Pacific, and we’re working in a more coordinated way toward our shared goals.

We’ve also deepened our alignment across the Atlantic. We launched the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council last year, marshaling the combined weight of nearly 50 percent of the world’s GDP. Last week, I joined Secretary Raimondo, Ambassador Tai, and our European Commission counterparts for our second meeting to work together on new technology standards, coordinate on investment screening and export controls, strengthen supply chains, boost green tech, and improve food security and digital infrastructure in developing countries.

Meanwhile, we and our European partners set aside 17 years of litigation about aircraft; now, instead of arguing with each other, we’re working to secure a level playing field for our companies and workers in that sector.

Similarly, we worked with the European Union and others to resolve a dispute on steel and aluminum imports, and now we’re coming together around a shared vision on higher climate standards and protecting our workers and industries from Beijing’s deliberate efforts to distort the market to its advantage.

We’re partnering with the European Union to protect our citizens’ privacy while strengthening a shared digital economy that depends on vast flows of data.

With the G20, we reached a landmark deal on a global minimum tax to halt the race to the bottom, make sure that big corporations pay their fair share, and give countries even more resources to invest in their people. More than 130 countries have signed on so far.

We and our G7 partners are pursuing a coordinated, high-standard, and transparent approach to meet the enormous infrastructure needs in developing countries.

We’ve convened global summits on defeating COVID-19 and renewing global democracy, and rejoined the UN Human Rights Council and the WHO, the World Health Organization.

And at a moment of great testing, we and our allies have re-energized NATO, which is now as strong as ever.

These actions are all aimed at defending and, as necessary, reforming the rules-based order that should benefit all nations. We want to lead a race to the top on tech, on climate, infrastructure, global health, and inclusive economic growth. And we want to strengthen a system in which as many countries as possible can come together to cooperate effectively, resolve differences peacefully, write their own futures as sovereign equals.

Our diplomacy is based on partnership and respect for each other’s interests. We don’t expect every country to have the exact same assessment of China as we do. We know that many countries – including the United States – have vital economic or people-to-people ties with China that they want to preserve. This is not about forcing countries to choose. It’s about giving them a choice, so that, for example, the only option isn’t an opaque investment that leaves countries in debt, stokes corruption, harms the environment, fails to create local jobs or growth, and compromises countries’ exercise of their sovereignty. We’ve heard firsthand about buyer’s remorse that these deals can leave behind.

At every step, we’re consulting with our partners, listening to them, taking their concerns to heart, building solutions that address their unique challenges and priorities.

There is growing convergence about the need to approach relations with Beijing with more realism. Many of our partners already know from painful experience how Beijing can come down hard when they make choices that it dislikes. Like last spring, when Beijing cut off Chinese students and tourists from traveling to Australia and imposed an 80 percent tariff on Australian barley exports, because Australia’s Government called for an independent inquiry into COVID’s origin. Or last November, when Chinese Coast Guard vessels used water cannons to stop a resupply of a Philippine navy ship in the South China Sea. Actions like these remind the world of how Beijing can retaliate against perceived opposition.

There’s another area of alignment we share with our allies and partners: human rights.

The United States stands with countries and people around the world against the genocide and crimes against humanity happening in the Xinjiang region, where more than a million people have been placed in detention camps because of their ethnic and religious identity.

We stand together on Tibet, where the authorities continue to wage a brutal campaign against Tibetans and their culture, language, and religious traditions, and in Hong Kong, where the Chinese Communist Party has imposed harsh anti-democratic measures under the guise of national security.

Now, Beijing insists that these are somehow internal matters that others have no right to raise. That is wrong. Its treatment of ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang and Tibet, along with many other actions, go against the core tenets of the UN Charter that Beijing constantly cites and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that all countries are meant to adhere to.

Beijing’s quashing of freedom in Hong Kong violates its handover commitments, enshrined in a treaty deposited at the United Nations.

We’ll continue to raise these issues and call for change – not to stand against China, but to stand up for peace, security, and human dignity.

That brings us to the third element of our strategy. Thanks to increased investments at home and greater alignment with allies and partners, we are well-positioned to outcompete China in key areas.

For example, Beijing wants to put itself at the center of global innovation and manufacturing, increase other countries’ technological dependence, and then use that dependence to impose its foreign policy preferences. And Beijing is going to great lengths to win this contest – for example, taking advantage of the openness of our economies to spy, to hack, to steal technology and know-how to advance its military innovation and entrench its surveillance state.

So as we make sure the next wave of innovation is unleashed by the United States and our allies and partners, we’ll also protect ourselves against efforts to siphon off our ingenuity or imperil our security.

We’re sharpening our tools to safeguard our technological competitiveness. That includes new and stronger export controls to make sure our critical innovations don’t end up in the wrong hands; greater protections for academic research, to create an open, secure, and supportive environment for science; better cyber defenses; stronger security for sensitive data; and sharper investment screening measures to defend companies and countries against Beijing’s efforts to gain access to sensitive technologies, data, or critical infrastructure; compromise our supply chains; or dominate key strategic sectors.

We believe – and we expect the business community to understand – that the price of admission to China’s market must not be the sacrifice of our core values or long-term competitive and technological advantages. We’re counting on businesses to pursue growth responsibly, assess risk soberly, and work with us not only to protect but to strengthen our national security.

For too long, Chinese companies have enjoyed far greater access to our markets than our companies have in China. For example, Americans who want to read the China Daily or communicate via WeChat are free to do so, but The New York Times and Twitter are prohibited for the Chinese people, except those working for the government who use these platforms to spread propaganda and disinformation. American companies operating in China have been subject to systematic forced technology transfer, while Chinese companies in America have been protected by our rule of law. Chinese filmmakers can freely market their movies to American theater owners without any censorship by the U.S. Government, but Beijing strictly limits the number of foreign movies allowed in the Chinese market, and those that are allowed are subjected to heavy-handed political censorship. China’s businesses in the United States don’t fear using our impartial legal system to defend their rights – in fact, they’re frequently in court asserting claims against the United States Government. The same isn’t true for foreign firms in China.

This lack of reciprocity is unacceptable and it’s unsustainable.

Or consider what happened in the steel market. Beijing directed massive over-investment by Chinese companies, which then flooded the global market with cheap steel. Unlike U.S. companies and other market-oriented firms, Chinese companies don’t need to make a profit – they just get another injection of state-owned bank credit when funds are running low. Plus, they do little to control pollution or protect the rights of their workers, which also keeps costs down. As a consequence, China now accounts for more than half of global steel production, driving U.S. companies – as well as factories in India, Mexico, Indonesia, Europe, and elsewhere – out of the market.

We’ve seen this same model when it comes to solar panels, electric car batteries – key sectors of the 21st century economy that we cannot allow to become completely dependent on China.

Economic manipulations like these have cost American workers millions of jobs. And they’ve harmed the workers and firms of countries around the world. We will push back on market-distorting policies and practices, like subsidies and market access barriers, which China’s government has used for years to gain competitive advantage. We’ll boost supply chain security and resilience by reshoring production or sourcing materials from other countries in sensitive sectors like pharmaceuticals and critical minerals, so that we’re not dependent on any one supplier. We’ll stand together with others against economic coercion and intimidation. And we will work to ensure that U.S. companies don’t engage in commerce that facilitates or benefits from human rights abuses, including forced labor.

In short, we’ll fight for American workers and industry with every tool we have – just as we know that our partners will fight for their workers.

The United States does not want to sever China’s economy from ours or from the global economy – though Beijing, despite its rhetoric, is pursuing asymmetric decoupling, seeking to make China less dependent on the world and the world more dependent on China. For our part, we want trade and investment as long as they’re fair and don’t jeopardize our national security. China has formidable economic resources, including a highly capable workforce. We’re confident that our workers, our companies will compete successfully – and we welcome that competition – on a level playing field.

So as we push back responsibly on unfair technology and economic practices, we’ll work to maintain economic and people-to-people ties connecting the United States and China, consistent with our interests and our values. Beijing may not be willing to change its behavior. But if it takes concrete action to address the concerns that we and many other countries have voiced, we will respond positively.

Competition need not lead to conflict. We do not seek it. We will work to avoid it. But we will defend our interests against any threat.

To that end, President Biden has instructed the Department of Defense to hold China as its pacing challenge, to ensure that our military stays ahead. We’ll seek to preserve peace through a new approach that we call “integrated deterrence” – bringing in allies and partners; working across the conventional, the nuclear, space, and informational domains; drawing on our reinforcing strengths in economics, in technology, and in diplomacy.

The administration is shifting our military investments away from platforms that were designed for the conflicts of the 20th century toward asymmetric systems that are longer-range, harder to find, easier to move. We’re developing new concepts to guide how we conduct military operations. And we’re diversifying our force posture and global footprint, fortifying our networks, critical civilian infrastructure, and space-based capabilities. We’ll help our allies and partners in the region with their own asymmetric capabilities, too.

We’ll continue to oppose Beijing’s aggressive and unlawful activities in the South and East China Seas. Nearly six years ago, an international tribunal found that Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea have no basis in international law. We’ll support the region’s coastal states in upholding their maritime rights. We’ll work with allies and partners to uphold freedom of navigation and overflight, which has enabled the region’s prosperity for decades. And we’ll continue to fly and sail wherever international law allows.

On Taiwan, our approach has been consistent across decades and administrations. As the President has said, our policy has not changed. The United States remains committed to our “one China” policy, which is guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the three Joint Communiques, the Six Assurances. We oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.

We continue to have an abiding interest in peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. We’ll continue to uphold our commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act to assist Taiwan in maintaining a sufficient self-defense capability – and, as indicated in the TRA, to “maintain our capacity to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security or the social or economic system, of Taiwan.” We enjoy a strong unofficial relationship with Taiwan, a vibrant democracy and leading economy in the region. We’ll continue to expand our cooperation with Taiwan on our many shared interests and values, support Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the international community, deepen our economic ties, consistent with our “one China” policy.

While our policy has not changed, what has changed is Beijing’s growing coercion – like trying to cut off Taiwan’s relations with countries around the world and blocking it from participating in international organizations. And Beijing has engaged in increasingly provocative rhetoric and activity, like flying PLA aircraft near Taiwan on an almost daily basis. These words and actions are deeply destabilizing; they risk miscalculation and threaten the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait. As we saw from the President’s discussions with allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific, maintaining peace and stability across the strait is not just a U.S. interest; it is a matter of international concern, critical to regional and global security and prosperity.

As President Biden likes to say, the only conflict worse than an intended one is an unintended one. We’ll manage this relationship responsibly to prevent that from happening. We’ve prioritized crisis communications and risk reduction measures with Beijing. And on this issue – and every other – we remain committed to intense diplomacy alongside intense competition.

Even as we invest, align, and compete, we’ll work together with Beijing where our interests come together. We can’t let the disagreements that divide us stop us from moving forward on the priorities that demand that we work together, for the good of our people and for the good of the world.

That starts with climate. China and the United States had years of stalemate on climate, which gridlocked the world – but also periods of progress, which galvanized the world. The climate diplomacy channel launched in 2013 between China and the United States unleashed global momentum that produced the Paris Agreement. Last year at COP26, the world’s hopes were buoyed when the United States and China issued our Glasgow Joint Declaration to work together to address emissions from methane to coal.

Climate is not about ideology. It’s about math. There’s simply no way to solve climate change without China’s leadership, the country that produces 28 percent of global emissions. The International Energy Agency has made clear that if China sticks with its current plan and does not peak its emissions until 2030, then the rest of the world must go to zero by 2035. And that’s simply not possible.

Today about 20 nations are responsible for 80 percent of emissions. China is number one. The United States is number two. Unless we all do much more, much faster, the financial and human cost will be catastrophic. Plus, competing on clean energy and climate policy can produce results that benefit everyone.

The progress that the United States and China make together – including through the working group established by the Glasgow Declaration – is vital to our success in avoiding the worst consequences of this crisis. I urge China to join us in accelerating the pace of these shared efforts.

Likewise, on the COVID-19 pandemic, our fates are linked. And our hearts go out to the Chinese people as they deal with this latest wave. We’ve been through our own deeply painful ordeal with COVID. That’s why we’re so convinced that all countries need to work together to vaccinate the world – not in exchange for favors or political concessions, but for the simple reason that no country will be safe until all are safe. And all nations must transparently share data and samples – and provide access to experts – for new variants and emerging and re-emerging pathogens, to prevent the next pandemic even as we fight the current one.

On nonproliferation and arms control, it’s in all of our interests to uphold the rules, the norms, the treaties that have reduced the spread of weapons of mass destruction. China and the United States must keep working together, and with other countries, to address Iran and North Korea’s nuclear programs. And we remain ready to discuss directly with Beijing our respective responsibilities as nuclear powers.

To counter illegal and illicit narcotics, especially synthetic opioids like fentanyl that killed more than 100,000 Americans last year, we want to work with China to stop international drug trafficking organizations from getting precursor chemicals, many of which originate in China.

As a global food crisis threatens people worldwide, we look to China – a country that’s achieved great things in agriculture – to help with a global response. Last week at the United Nations, the United States convened a meeting of foreign ministers to strengthen global food security. We extended an invitation to China to join. We’ll continue to do so.

And as the world’s economy recovers from the devastation of the pandemic, global macroeconomic coordination between the United States and China is key – through the G20, the IMF, other venues, and of course, bilaterally. That comes with the territory of being the world’s two largest economies.

In short, we’ll engage constructively with China wherever we can, not as a favor to us or anyone else, and never in exchange for walking away from our principles, but because working together to solve great challenges is what the world expects from great powers, and because it’s directly in our interest. No country should withhold progress on existential transnational issues because of bilateral differences.

The scale and the scope of the challenge posed by the People’s Republic of China will test American diplomacy like nothing we’ve seen before. I’m determined to give the State Department and our diplomats the tools that they need to meet this challenge head on as part of my modernization agenda. This includes building a China House – a department-wide integrated team that will coordinate and implement our policy across issues and regions, working with Congress as needed. And here, I must mention an outstanding team at our embassy in Beijing and our consulates across China, led by Ambassador Nick Burns. They do exceptional work every day, and many have been doing their jobs in recent weeks through these intense COVID lockdowns. Despite extreme conditions, they’ve persisted. We’re grateful for this terrific team.

I’ve never been more convinced about the power and the purpose of American diplomacy or sure about our capacity to meet the challenges of this decisive decade. To the American people: let’s recommit to investing in our core strengths, in our people, in our democracy, in our innovative spirit. As President Biden often says, it’s never a good bet to bet against America. But let’s bet on ourselves and win the competition for the future.

To countries around the world committed to building an open, secure, and prosperous future, let’s work in common cause to uphold the principles that make our shared progress possible and stand up for the right of every nation to write its own future. And to the people of China: we’ll compete with confidence; we’ll cooperate wherever we can; we’ll contest where we must. We do not see conflict.

There’s no reason why our great nations cannot coexist peacefully, and share in and contribute to human progress together. That’s what everything I’ve said today boils down to: advancing human progress, leaving to our children a world that’s more peaceful, more prosperous, and more free.

Thank you very much for listening. (Applause.)