Chris Li spoke to Newsweek about how the outcome of the 2022 U.S. midterm elections and Republican control of the House of Representatives might constrain the Biden administration's foreign policy options on China.

Chris Li spoke to NPR about the 20th Party Congress in China and Xi Jinping's expected third term as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, including implications for U.S.-China relations.

Nearly nine months into the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, Washington’s relationship with Beijing has sunk to a historic low. After a high-level diplomatic meeting in March that devolved into an ugly exchange of insults, fruitless visits to China by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, and virtual climate talks that failed to produce clear deliverables, the world’s two great powers have reached a dangerous impasse. 

...If the Biden administration hopes to manage the competition and prevent it from turning into catastrophe, it must take urgent action to establish and maintain open channels of communication between the Pentagon and China’s armed forces.

The Biden Administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan has sparked renewed debate about the credibility of U.S. engagement in other parts of the world. But comparisons between U.S. policies toward Afghanistan and those toward Taiwan are more wrong than right. In short, U.S. commitments abroad are multifaceted across region and country—taking into account the unique geopolitical landscape and a complex hierarchy of national interests. At their core, Afghanistan and Taiwan hold fundamentally different degrees of strategic value to the United States—and face materially different challenges. 

The military dimension of the U.S.-China relationship "is only one dimension,  and by far a supporting dimension to the broader objectives that are both political and economic," General Joseph F. Dunford, Jr. (retired) said in an interview with Belfer Center Fellow Chris Li, writing for The Wire China.

U.S. President Joe Biden has spoken frequently of restoring the United States’ credibility as a global leader. That task, which comes at a moment of global crisis, will require the United States to recommit to multilateral diplomacy, even while managing a dangerously deteriorating relationship with China. By acting on biosecurity—a neglected priority hiding in plain sight—Biden can make progress on all of these goals. Washington has an opportunity to lead in an era of heightened great-power competition, address the need for arms control measures that reduce the risk of biological weapons, and potentially even push China to cooperate to that end.  

In recent months, Americans have witnessed the extraordinary leadership of state and local leaders—despite the lack of one synchronized national strategy. Debates over re-opening drag on, and tensions between the Trump administration and governors simmer. Meanwhile, the death toll has passed 100,000, and confirmed cases exceed 2 million.

In contrast, Taiwan has succeeded, not in flattening the curve—but completely suppressing it. A vibrant democracy with the population of Massachusetts, Virginia, and Indiana combined, Taiwan has reported a mere 443 cases and 7 deaths and has since stepped up to help globally. As U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pronounced, “Taiwan’s openness and generosity in the battle against COVID-19 is a model for the world.”

Belfer Center Research Assistant and China Working Group Coordinator Christopher Li is quoted in this Newsweek article about China's hacking of coronavirus research from American universities and laboratories.  

For America to defeat the coronavirus and return to a version of life as it was before this nightmare, should we identify China as an adversary against whom to mobilize? Or alternatively, must we recognize it as a partner whose cooperation is essential for our own victory? While the consensus in Washington has moved sharply toward defining China as part of the problem, the fact is that we cannot succeed in this war against coronavirus without making China part of the solution.