President-elect Joe Biden announced yesterday that the US was ‘back, ready to lead the world’ again on the worldwide stage, closing the Trump chapter with his ‘America First’ policies. Biden was speaking in Wilmington, Delaware, where he introduced his national security and foreign policy team. The six cabinet nominees, all of whom held senior roles in Barack Obama's administration, would usher in a new era of multilateralism. ‘It's a team that reflects the fact that America is back, ready to lead the world, not retreat from it’ Mr Biden stated, adding ‘Once again sit at the head of the table. Ready to confront our adversaries and not reject our allies. Ready to stand up for our values’.
Interestingly, Biden indicated that two former, more liberal, rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders were not under consideration for any cabinet appointments, believing he needed their votes in the closely divided Senate.
One relationship that will be closely scrutinized once Biden gets to the White House will be that of China. In an editorial the Global Times, a Chinese state-run-media outlet, said the incoming administration in the U.S. needs to restore normal competitive relations with China instead of seeing China as an enemy. If the next Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, continues Mike Pompeo's ideological and unprofessional China policy there would be no real change to Sino-U.S. tensions the editorial said. It added that U.S. policies on China would have much broader success if Washington stopped attempting to contain China's development and sought cooperation in addressing the pandemic and climate change.