U.S. Ambassador to China, Nick Burns, warned that the U.S. and China have a “very competitive, very challenging, very contentious” relationship in an interview with FOX Business Network’s Edward Lawrence.
TikTok is staring down a ban in the U.S. that is fast approaching on Jan. 19. The fate of the social media platform is as ambiguous as the U.S.- China relationship.
Ambassador Nick Burns thinks TikTok and other Chinese-founded social media apps amount to a strategy to undermine America from within as the relationship between the two countries is, “very competitive, very challenging, very contentious,” he told FOX Business.
“I do think it is a strategy. You know, China is a very significant global power. They want to overtake the United States in power. They want to diminish us” he said.
Burns also noted that the Chinese Communist Party runs a massive propaganda machine which censors incoming information about freedoms in the United States and distorts our problems, ultimately making the U.S. look bad.
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General view of the TikTok headquarters on Oct. 13, 2020 in Culver City, California. (Photo by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images / Getty Images)
As for TikTok, Burns explained it is a battle for ideas and any Chinese company ultimately answers to the government of China. A White House source familiar with the situation told FOX Business that President Biden supported the bipartisan bill which is now law that bans the app, but because Jan. 19 falls on a Sunday, it is up to the Trump administration to follow through with the ban, which was upheld by the Supreme Court on Friday. Inauguration Day is Jan. 20.
On Friday, President-elect Donald Trump gave details of a recent call with China’s president.
“I just spoke to Chairman Xi Jinping of China. The call was a very good one for both China and the U.S.A. It is my expectation that we will solve many problems together, and starting immediately. We discussed balancing Trade, Fentanyl, TikTok, and many other subjects. President Xi and I will do everything possible to make the World more peaceful and safe!”
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Chinese President Xi Jinping applauds during the joint press conference of the China-Central Asia Summit in Xian, in China’s northern Shaanxi province on May 19, 2023. (Photo by FLORENCE LO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Burns stressed the U.S. must remain tough on China because Communist Party leaders only understand strength.
“They have to pay the price. I mean, I agree with you. I just you know, I spent the last several years debating, pushing, arguing with Chinese leaders and what they really respond to our actions,” he said. He thinks the next administration needs to keep the pressure campaign against China. Burns believes in tariffs on Chinese goods and sanctions until the country establishes a more fair trade environment and treats U.S. companies more fairly.
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In testimony on Wednesday for the Senate nomination for Trump’s secretary of state, Sen. Marco Rubio, many questions centered around China. Rubio told senators, “PRC is the most potent and dangerous near pure adversary this nation has ever confronted.” He added there is a dangerous imbalance in the U.S.-China relationship.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., stops to talk to reporters as he arrives in the Capitol from the Senate subway on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Burns advises the U.S. to lean on its allies in Asia, adding, “We’ve never faced a competitor in the history of the United States as strong as China. And so we’ve got to have a whole government effort to compete. One of the great advantages we have is that China has no allies in the world. We have treaty allies Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia” he said.
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The U.S. is not losing to China yet, but we need to be vigilant.
“In fact, if I had to measure the power of the United States versus China, we’re stronger,” he offered.
In order to keep it that way, he says a whole government approach will be needed.
Burns resigned Friday after first walking through the State Department doors 45 years ago.
