https://ift.tt/QAZXH1P. President Joe Biden said the United States faces serious challenges around the world, but in the past two years, democracies have become stronger while autocracies have grown weaker.
In outlining his foreign policy accomplishments and challenges in his State of the Union address to Congress Tuesday evening, the president struck an optimistic and defiant tone, focusing his remarks on China’s Communist Party and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Days after a Chinese surveillance balloon drifted across American airspace, leading to the cancellation of a high-profile trip to Beijing by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, President Biden outlined where he sees the relationship with Beijing now.
The president said he remains open to working with China, “where it can advance American interests and benefit the world.”
“But make no mistake about it,” he said. “As we made clear last week, if China threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our country, and we did.”
Some Republicans criticized Biden for not ordering the balloon shot down earlier as it traversed the country. They may still be looking for Biden to publicly take a tougher stance on China, Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Center told VOA.
“So, he was not taking a forceful, hawkish position. He was leaving open some space for conciliation, and I really don’t think those members of Congress that wanted a more hard-line stance would have been satisfied with what he said tonight.”
Biden argued that his administration had changed the narrative about how “the People’s Republic of China is increasing its power and America was failing in the world.”