Republican Sen. Ted Cruz wasn't pleased with the comments and actions concerning China made recently or in past years by President Joe Biden's nominees for Cabinet and other important posts.
In a recent video post, Cruz called the Biden administration's apparent rush to embrace the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) a "dangerous" political strategy.
The Texas senator told the Epoch Times via email that China "poses the single greatest geopolitical threat to the United States over the next century."
"We need serious, clear-eyed policymakers to confront that threat," Cruz stated in the email. "One of the really disturbing patterns we've seen with Biden nominee after Biden nominee is their rush to embrace the worst elements of the Chinese Communist Party. I will continue working with my colleagues to protect our national security."
Biden's team seemed to have a different approach in confronting that threat.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters on his first day in office that the U.S.-China relationship was "arguably the most important relationship that we have in the world."
Blinken favored cooperating with China on climate change and other issues of shared concern.
Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, Biden's nominee to be the secretary of the Department of Commerce, refused to commit to keeping Huawei Technologies on the Commerce Department's Entity List, which would stop it from acquiring American technology.
China's Huawei has received bipartisan scrutiny over security concerns as Beijing requires its companies to share information with the CCP's intelligence sector. Washington has repeatedly stated that Huawei – founded in 1987 by a former People's Liberation Army engineer – is an extension of the Chinese regime.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Biden's nominee for Ambassador to the United Nations, received criticisms over her 2019 remarks at an event sponsored by the Confucius Institute, which is backed by the CCP.
Thomas-Greenfield spoke glowingly about China in the 2019 event. She told the audience that China has invested in Africa in a number of ways, including railway projects and other infrastructure development. Thomas-Greenfield said Africa would not benefit from the competition between the U.S. and China, adding that the U.S. could "learn from China and its recent success on the continent."
"The U.S. should be focused on building a strong partnership with Africa which is based on shared values of peace, prosperity, sustained economic growth and development, and a firm commitment to good governance, gender equity, and the rule of law. I see no reason why China cannot share those values. In fact, China is in a unique position to spread these ideals given its strong footprint on the continent," she said.
Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Jim Risch, a Republican from Idaho, noted "the lack of acknowledgment of the malign activities of China" in Thomas-Greenfield's speech.
Thomas-Greenfield told the senators that she has a long track record of acknowledging those activities and expressed regrets for accepting the invitation to speak at the Savannah State University Confucius Institute.
Alejandro Mayorkas, the recently confirmed Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, was under investigation in 2013 on allegations that he personally intervened to win approval for Gulf Coast Funds Management – a financing company then headed by the late Anthony Rodham, the brother of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Emails obtained by the office of Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, showed that after winning approval to participate in the foreign visa program, at least one of the visas sought by Rodham's firm was for a vice president of Huawei Technologies.
Biden once told Xi Jinping America believes anything's possible
On his first day in office, Biden referenced a conversation with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping when they were both were vice-presidents while administering an oath of office – virtually – to nearly 1,000 of his appointees.
"I was asked a long time ago when I was with Xi Jinping, and I was on the Tibetan plateau with him," Biden said. "Xi asked me in a private dinner, he and I, and we each had an interpreter. He said can you define America for me, and I said yes and I meant it. I said I can do it in one word, one word: possibilities. We believe anything's possible if we set our mind to it, unlike any other country in the world." (Related: Former DNI John Ratcliffe confirms that China, not Russia, had a very large role interfering with our 2020 election.)
That may include the possibility of undoing years of efforts by his predecessor to counter the CCP. Under the Trump administration, the U.S. began responding to Beijing's "unrestricted warfare" strategy by ratcheting up its war of words and escalating its countermeasures.
The new administration appeared to be threading in a different direction, carrying out a number of actions that many viewed would be beneficial to the CCP.
Under Biden, the U.S. rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement. The country formally left the Paris accord in November 2020, though former President Donald Trump had talked about leaving as early as 2017.
"Under the agreement China will be able to increase these emissions by a staggering number of years – 13," Trump said at the time. "They can do whatever they want for 13 years. Not us."
China is the world's largest financier and builder of both fossil fuel and renewable infrastructure worldwide, according to the Climate Action Tracker. It is the largest emitter of CO2 emissions in the world.
The U.S. also rejoined the World Health Organization (WHO). Trump accused the WHO of refusing to act on reforms recommended by the U.S., including providing proof of its independence from the CCP.
The Biden administration also delayed a Chinese military-related investment ban.
In a statement posted on the Treasury Department website, the Biden administration said most investments in companies "whose name closely matches, but does not exactly match, the name of a Communist Chinese military company" would be allowed until May 27, extending the deadline which was originally set Jan. 28.
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