WASHINGTON: Secretary of state Antony Blinken on Wednesday singled out the US relationship with China as the main overseas focus of President Joe Biden’s administration and said the country posed “the biggest geopolitical test” of this century. In a speech at the state department, Blinken sought to set out how foreign policy will bring benefits for American workers and families, and said that was key to the new administration’s approach.
China was the only nation Blinken said was one of eight priorities, which included working to avoid another pandemic, tackling climate change and promoting democracy abroad. China is the only country with the power to seriously challenge the US ability to shape the global system of “rules, values and relationships,” he said. “Our relationship with China will be competitive when it should be, collaborative when it can be, and adversarial when it must be,” Blinken said.