Some lines in President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address that referred to China are being edited following the shooting down of surveillance balloons that made their way across the US last week, according to three people familiar with the speech.
Parts of the draft remarks for Tuesday night’s speech, which include a section on China at long last, could be scuttled after ballooning Americans’ attention and drawing the ire of Republicans, who have criticized the president and Both their administrations have been criticized for their management. The situation, sources said.
Sources said discussions between Biden and his aides have been on how sharp his rhetoric on China should be, with some administration officials saying dialing it too high could be counterproductive as the president is concerned about poor relations between Washington and the US. Let’s continue to navigate. Beijing.
“We have been clear that we will defend American values and advance our interests while maintaining open lines of communication with China,” a White House official said.
Another White House official, who was asked if there would be any specific mention of balloons in Biden’s speech, said: “It is likely to be part of a broad umbrella of major foreign policy topics re-establishing America’s leadership on the world stage.” will fall down.”
Biden’s speech took a tough, domestic political stance against China before the White House publicly acknowledged it was monitoring the surveillance balloons days after they entered US airspace, the sources said. Familiar language was used. Now, he said, he is turning to state that his administration will not tolerate such violations by China, possibly noting that Foreign Minister Antony Blinken postponed his planned visit to Beijing because of the balloon incident. . Sources said the speech would not include announcing a concrete plan for retaliation against China.
A second White House official said that “the president’s foreign policy vision and agenda have always been part of this speech,” which included “managing our strategic competition with China.”
“Of course, the president’s remarks always take into account what’s happening in the world and how we meet that moment,” the official said. “But you will hear from the president about his continued and successful effort to re-establish America’s leadership around the world.”
Biden has often designed his economic agenda to not only support America’s middle class, but to help the country compete better globally and gain an edge over China. “Guys, we risk losing our edge as a nation, and China and the rest of the world are catching up,” Biden said at an infrastructure event in New York last week.
At the same time, his administration has also increasingly focused on China as a growing military threat, particularly as it prepares to compete with the US on that front and saber-rattling Taiwan.
One of the sources familiar with the changes being made to Biden’s address said that while the speech is not expected to include specific new policy announcements in response to the surveillance balloons, the editing process was still ongoing.