White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said a "priority" of the Biden administration is "dealing with China’s trade abuses" that harm American workers, adding that President Biden’s national security strategy will lead with "diplomacy."
Sullivan briefed reporters on Thursday before the president was set to visit the State Department to deliver remarks on foreign policy and national security.
Sullivan told reporters that the president is "establishing a position of strength" which involves investments in the United States, and added that the president’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief effort, The American Recovery Plan, also involves national security.
Sullivan said the Biden administration’s national security strategy will allow the United States to "compete more effectively" with competitors across the globe, and specifically referenced China.
He added that the Biden administration’s national security and foreign policy will be "foreign policy for the middle class."
"Everything we do will be measured by a basic metric – is it going to make life better, safer and easier for working families?" Sullivan said.
Sullivan pointed to trade policy, noting that the national security team is also "about creating jobs and raising wages here in the United States."
DNI AVRIL HAINES SAYS AIM SHOULD BE TO 'OUT-COMPETE' CHINA
"Our priority is not to get access for Goldman Sachs in China," Sullivan said. "Our priority is dealing with China’s trade abuses harming American workers in the United States."
Sullivan pointed to China’s efforts in intellectual property theft, and added that the administration’s "priorities" are "about the American worker and thinking about national security as national competitiveness so that the good-paying jobs are in the U.S."
Meanwhile, Biden’s newly confirmed director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines, during her confirmation hearing last month, said one of her primary focuses would be to provide intelligence support efforts to "out-compete China."
"We should provide the necessary intelligence to support long-term bipartisan efforts to out-compete China – gaining and sharing insight into China's intentions and capabilities, while also supporting more immediate efforts to counter Beijing's unfair, illegal, aggressive and coercive actions, as well as its human rights violations, wherever we can," Haines testified.
Sullivan's comments also come after ODNI this week warned of China’s collection of health care data and DNA of Americans, warning that the efforts pose "serious risks" to the privacy of Americans and to U.S. economic and national security.
The National Counterintelligence and Security Center within ODNI this week warned that the People’s Republic of China has collected large health care data sets from the U.S. and nations around the globe "through both legal and illegal means."