Some Biden administration critics have questioned US overtures to China, arguing that past decades of engagement have failed to change its line on a range of trade, security and human rights issues.
Congressman Mike McCaul, the Republican chair of the House of Representative’s Foreign Affairs Committee, cited the Reuters report in a letter he sent to Blinken dated May 19, demanding information related to actions toward China.
“For the US to succeed in its strategic competition with the PRC, it is essential that it be willing to unflinchingly hold the PRC accountable for its aggression and malfeasance, and that it be well-organized and effective in doing so,” McCaul wrote.
The Biden administration has recently seen other changes among senior officials focused on China.
US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, who has driven much of the department’s approach toward China, announced on May 12 that she is retiring.
And a former top official for China on Biden’s National Security Council, Laura Rosenberger, stepped down this year to head a US government-run nonprofit that manages unofficial relations with Chinese-claimed Taiwan.