Feature: Why did the US State Council set up the “China Group”?

The State Council recently established the “China Affairs Coordination Office” (“China Group”), which means that the newly established department will ensure that the United States can “responsibly manage” its competition with Beijing, and promote its vision of an open and inclusive international system. Experts analyzed that the “China Group” was established to strengthen the coordination of work with China between different departments of the Biden government.

When presiding over the launching ceremony of the newly established “China Group”, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the agency would bring together experts from the US State Department and from outside the State Department on China issues, who would work side by side with colleagues from the US State Department in other regions of the world, as well as experts in international security, economy, technology, multilateral diplomacy and strategic communication.

CNN reported that the “China Group” was headed by Rick Waters, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs of the State Council.

In fact, before that, several government departments in the United States had set up special departments for China. In 2020, McCarthy, the Republican leader of the US House of Representatives, announced the establishment of the Republican “China Task Force”. In July 2020, the US Department of Homeland Security under Trump established the “China Working Group”. In March 2021, the “China Working Group” set up by the US Defense Secretary Austin began to operate. In October 2021, CIA Director Burns said that he would establish a high-level working group on China, namely the “China Task Center”.

In May this year, when Antony Blinken delivered a speech on the US government’s policy towards China, he claimed that China posed “the most serious long-term challenge” to the so-called “international order”. On the other hand, he also stressed his determination to avoid a “new cold war” with China.

Why does the US State Department set up the “China Group” at this time? In this regard, Li Mingjiang, an associate professor of the Rajaratnam School of International Relations at Nanyang Technological University of Singapore, said in an interview with the China News Agency in Hong Kong on the 19th that it is clear that the US government now wants to deal with China through this department and strengthen coordination between their different departments. The main purpose is to adapt to the competition with big countries like China, but there are also aspects of cooperation with China. Its essence is a manifestation of the institutionalization of government departments, which makes the US work with China more effective.

It is also commented that the “China Group” is aimed at optimizing the functions of the State Council itself. In order to improve the efficiency of the US House of State in obtaining information and listening to the opinions of other departments, the final coordinating department for China policy should be the US National Security Council.

It is also analyzed that the relationship between the “China Groups” set up by different departments in the United States is full of competition and in step. Competition means that different departments in the government compete for the dominant power of the policy agenda on China related issues to gain political benefits; Coordination means that each department implements the US strategic competition policy towards China from their respective areas of competence, so as to continuously strengthen the policy system of sustained and intensive cross sectoral competition against China. Among them, the National Security Council is more prominent because of its special relationship with the President. It usually coordinates some major actions between different government departments.