White House asserts US seeks ‘coexistence’ with China, not Indo-Pacific domination

The White House Coordinator for the Indo-Pacific, and Biden’s national security coordinator Kurt Campbell on Thursday said that the US seeks coexistence with China in the Indo-Pacific and not succumb to the domination, and regional supremacy. In a conversation on US-China relations with the think tank Carnegie Endowment, Campbell said: "What I hear a lot of is sustaining a system of partners and friends, working in concert with other countries. I do not believe this is about American domination. In fact, I believe ultimately what the United States seeks is a kind of co-existence with China." 

Campbell insisted that the US will continue to play a vital role as the leading nation on the global stature, adding that the Biden administration has a ‘multifaceted’ approach globally and US would need to bolster not just military capabilities but various other technological advancements such as 5G, quantum computing, robotics, human sciences, space, and other critical infrastructure. 

Think tank Carnegie, though, highlights that while the US seeks to work in hand with the Chinese cooperation to tackle the issues in Asia, Beijing has shown little interest in working with Washington across several areas, including space. The agency cited Chinese news outlets’ consistent criticism of Washington’s space programs such as the Artemis Accords, which it said was a rift of the division of space into enclosures.

It is to be noted, that China is also banned from participating in any joint projects with the United States under the Wolf Amendment, according to Carnegie. A measure drafted in 2011 prohibits NASA from cooperating with China without special approval from the US Congress. Biden’s Indo-Pacific czar stressed that while the US seeks to counter dominance by China in the Indo-Pacific with its allies, there is no denying that the bipartisan support and understanding shows that the history in the 24 century will be written by Asia, particularly the Indo-Pacific region and ensuring the United States has the capability to compete is “the essential precondition.” 

Allies like India, South Korea, Australia and others crucial in shaping Indo-Pacific strategy

Campbell went on to highlight the Biden administration’s efforts of comprehensively engaging the allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region including Japan, South Korea, Australia, Vietnam, and India to design the strategy in the Indo-Pacific via dialogues, and address challenges in the Indo-Pacific region. The United States needs to compete across a number of areas with China, all the while maintaining positive and productive discussions with its allies, said Campbell.

The US needs to ensure that it is engaged militarily, and diplomatically and that it conducts an open, engaged optimistic approach in the Indo-Pacific. The dominant paradigm between the US and China is increasingly growing to be defined by “competition" in terms of military and technology. “We are entering an era where competition is essentially is the feature that animates relation between the US and China. But the question of what China wants is a matter of debate,”  he said.