The White House will disclose the China Strategy to Congress on Wednesday. It lays out Beijing's actions that could harm US interests.
The report explores China's economic policies, military formations, human rights violations, and disinformation campaigns.
Three officials familiar with the report confirmed that President Donald Trump signed it on Tuesday.
The China Strategy does not solely focus on the response to coronavirus crisis. However, the officials mention the coronavirus pandemic as an example that demonstrates how China’s lack of transparency can affect its relations with the US.
According to the report, the Trump administration is "willing to tolerate greater friction in the bilateral relationship" to secure American interests.
These interests include security and economic pursuits. Meanwhile, the officials stressed that competition with Beijing does not have to lead to conflict.
However, the report criticizes China's continuous military formations, claims of sovereignty in the South China Sea, and intellectual property theft of American technology.
The report also reveals "malign behaviors," particularly in economics, security, and values.
The bigger picture
Moreover, the officials confirmed that the document contains ways the US will respond to China's behavior. These measures include the Navy's freedom of navigation efforts.
The officials did not mention if there are human rights issues cited in the report.
The controversial issues in this context are the treatment of the Uighurs in China as well as Beijing’s crackdown on protesters in Hong Kong.
The new strategy report is part of the government's current policy goals and is not a significant shift in policy.
The document was a requirement of the National Defense Authorization Act of fiscal year 2019.
“The media’s focus on the current pandemic risks missing the bigger picture of the challenge that’s presented by the Chinese Communist Party,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday before the White House released its report.
“China’s been ruled by a brutal, authoritarian regime, a communist regime since 1949. For several decades, we thought the regime would become more like us — through trade, scientific exchanges, diplomatic outreach, letting them in the World Trade Organization as a developing nation. That didn’t happen,” he said.
“We greatly underestimated the degree to which Beijing is ideologically and politically hostile to free nations. The whole world is waking up to that fact," he added.
Slow reforms
Based on report, the Trump administration finds “no value” in linking with Beijing for symbolism and pageantry.
“When quiet diplomacy proves futile, the United States will increase public pressure” on China.
“More than 40 years later, it has become evident that this approach underestimated the will of the Chinese Communist Party to constrain the scope of economic and political reform in China,” the report said.
“Over the past two decades, reforms have slowed, stalled, or reversed.”
“Since the 1980s, Beijing has signed multiple international agreements to protect intellectual property. Despite this, more than 63 percent of the world’s counterfeits originate in China, inflicting hundreds of billions of dollars of damage on legitimate businesses around the world,” the report revealed.
The White House does not agree to China attempting to convince the World Trade Organization that it is a “developing country.” The report cites that China remains the top importer of high-tech products and ranks second only to the US in terms of gross domestic product, outward investment, and defense spending.
