China Poses Greater Challenges to US Than Cold War: Deputy Secretary of State

Dipllomat Kurt Campbell talks with a group of guests before the start of a meeting with ASEAN leaders and U.S. business representatives in Washington, on May 12, 2022. Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters

The United States is facing a threat from China’s communist regime that Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell has warned is more severe than the Cold War, with a senior House lawmaker emphasizing that the regime poses an “immediate danger.”

Campbell made the remarks during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Sept. 18, which was centered around the challenges posed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the Indo-Pacific region.

“Frankly, the Cold War pales in comparison to the multifaceted challenges that China presents,“ Campbell said. ”It’s not just the military challenges. It’s across the board. It’s in the Global South. It is in technology. We need to step up our game across the board.”

The Biden administration has labeled China the “most consequential” challenge to the United States, saying that the United States seeks competition with Beijing but does not seek a conflict or a new Cold War. The Pentagon has characterized China as its “pacing challenge,” particularly in areas such as cyberspace, the Arctic region, and outer space.

Campbell emphasized the importance of having a bipartisan focus on China.

“Probably the most important thing that we’re going to need to do in terms of a national strategy in the Indo-Pacific is to sustain bipartisanship, and I do believe we’re on the road to that now,” he said. “I think there is a recognition that this is the most significant challenge in our history.”

Campbell said that the dominant area of competition is in technology, including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and semiconductors.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the committee’s chairman, also warned about the threat posed by the CCP.

“The great power competition with China is not just a contest of military might or economic dominance; it is a struggle over the rules which will shape the 21st century and the global balance of power,” McCaul said in his opening remarks at the hearing.

“This is not a future threat or an isolated problem on the other side of the world—the CCP poses [an] immediate danger to the security interests of the United States and its allies.”

Russian Ties

China’s ties with Russia also came under scrutiny during the hearing, particularly Beijing’s support for the Russian war in Ukraine.

Campbell said the United States had been “slow to recognize the absolute intensity of engagement” between CCP leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

As for China’s support for Russia’s defense industry, Campbell said it came from the top of the CCP leadership.

“The most worrisome thing is that it comes from the very top,” Campbell said.

“We see the role of UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] and other capacities that are penetrating the Ukrainian airspace. Much of that has been supported surreptitiously by China, and it raises real concerns.”

When asked about specifics that China provided to Russia, Campbell said that “chips, some design features,“ and ”some capacities associated with the making of explosives” have substantially aided Russian capabilities on the battlefield.

Xi and Putin elevated their ties to a “no-limit“ partnership in February 2021, just weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine. In 2023, bilateral trade between the two countries reached a new record of $240.1 billion, up 25 percent from the previous year, according to China’s official customs data.

The two leaders reaffirmed their partnership in China in May, during Putin’s first official overseas trip since the start of his new six-year presidential term.

The Biden administration has more than 300 sanctions and export controls on Chinese entities for their support of Russia in the Russia–Ukraine war.

“We, frankly, have taken a lot of sanctions against Chinese firms,” Campbell said. “The challenge is we’ve got to get more support from Europe on this.”

In exchange for China’s help, Russia has provided China with submarine and missile technologies, according to Campbell.

“Russia is providing China with ‘submarine operations, activities of aeronautical design, including stealth; that also involves capacities on missile capabilities,’” McCaul said while quoting Campbell’s remarks following talks with European Union and NATO counterparts earlier this month.

McCaul told Campbell, “I couldn’t agree with you more that countering the CCP must be our top priority.”