Asia Matters for America
America Matters for Asia
Explore US-Asia National and Local Connections
An initiative of the East-West Center and Asia Matters for America partners and stakeholders
The 2020 Presidential Candidates on the Indo-Pacific resource highlighted mentions of Indo-Pacific issues by US presidential candidates and nominees in speeches, campaign documents, and debates.
To view statements by President Trump prior to his June 18, 2019 declaration to seek a second term, as well as members of his Cabinet, visit The Trump Administration & US - Indo-Pacific Relations.
"Democrats will take aggressive action against China or any other country that tries to undercut American manufacturing by manipulating their currencies and maintaining a misaligned exchange rate with the dollar, dumping products like steel and aluminum in our markets, or providing unfair subsidies. Unlike President Trump, we will stand up to efforts from China and other state actors to steal America’s intellectual property and will demand China and other countries cease and desist from conducting cyber espionage against our companies. And we will take immediate…
"U.S. Leadership in the Asian Pacific
We are a Pacific nation with economic, military, and cultural ties to all the countries of the oceanic rim and treaty alliances with Japan, South Korea, Australia, the Philippines, and Thailand. With them, we look toward the establishment of human rights for the people of North Korea. We urge the government of China to recognize the inevitability of change in the Kim family's slave state and, for everyone's safety against nuclear disaster, to hasten positive change on the Korean…
“Mike Pence: (32:06): They have a $2 trillion version of the Green New Deal, Susan, that your newspaper, USA Today, said really wasn’t that very different from the original Green New Deal. More taxes, more regulation, banning fracking, abolishing fossil fuel, crushing American energy and economic surrender to China is a prescription for economic decline. President Trump and I will keep America growing, the V-shape recovery that’s underway right now will continue with four more years of President Donald Trump [crosstalk 00:32:37] […]
Kamala Harris…
"Kristen Welker: (09:22)I do want to ask you, Vice-President Biden, about China. Let’s talk about China more broadly. There have, of course, President Trump has said that they should pay for not being fully transparent in regards to the coronavirus. If you were president, would you make China pay? And please be specific, what would that look like?
Joe Biden: (09:41)What I’d make China do is play by the international rules, not like he has done. He has caused the deficit of the…
"Q What are you demanding from China, sir? China is a big player in buying Indiana products and so is the (inaudible). So what is the demand so that not only Indiana, but the other states get a fair deal?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Look, you look at our international trade deficit: Half of it is with China. And President Trump has imposed, now, $250 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods coming into the United States. And we’ve made it clear that we’re prepared — unless…
"Q How is China (inaudible)?
THE PRESIDENT: Trade is coming along well. We’re having a big meeting this afternoon. I think you folks are going to be at it for a little while, at least. The Vice Premier is here and lots of top people from China. They very much want to make a deal. We’ll see what happens. It’s got to be a good deal. Got to be a good — it’s got to be a great deal. It’s got to be great.
Look…
"Perhaps the greatest challenge NATO will face in the coming decades is how we must all adjust to the rise of the People’s Republic of China. And adjust we must. For determining how to meet the challenge of Chinese 5G technology, meet the challenge of the easy money offered by China’s Belt and Road Initiative, is a challenge European allies must contend with every day.
Whether we like it or not, the implications of China’s rise will profoundly affect the choices NATO members will face…
"And also, finally, religious persecution is growing in the world’s most populous country as well. The State Department’s annual International Religious Freedom report labeled China as a religious freedom violator every year since 1999.
As many of you know, Chinese authorities have banned the sale of Christian Bibles; they’ve destroyed thousands of crosses and other Church symbols; and they have jailed Christian pastors. And let me make you a promise: As we work toward a more free and fair trading relationship with China, our administration…
"So I’ll be talking about a lot of — to a lot of people. Perhaps President Putin. Perhaps President Xi of China. My people right now are in China. We’re negotiating the trade deal. We’ll see what happens. But we’re doing very well.
Q How did that round of talks go?
THE PRESIDENT: I think it’s going very well. I mean, the trade deal is going very well. We’ll see what happens. But it’s going very well. They’re in China right now, the highest level…
"Q On the China trade deal, once you have an agreement with President Xi, will you immediately lift the China tariffs? Will you remove the tariffs right away?
THE PRESIDENT: No. We’re not talking about removing them. We’re talking about leaving them and for a substantial period of time, because we have to make sure that if we do the deal with China, that China lives by the deal. Because they’ve had a lot of problems living by certain deals and we have to make…
"We took over a mess. We took over a mess with North Korea. We took over a mess in the Middle East. We took over. A lot of bad things were happening and the economy was not doing well. It was heading in the wrong direction. You remember that. It was going to go bad, and then we opened up with the regulation cuts and all of the other things we’ve done, including the big tax cut. (Applause.) But it made a big difference. Made…
"Q What are the prospects now on the summit with President Xi this month or next month?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’re doing very well with China talks. China talks are doing very well. We’ll see what happens. If it’s not a deal that’s a great deal for us, we’re not going to make it. But I would say that we’re moving along at a very high level. We’re getting what we have to get, and I think we’re getting it relatively quickly.So the China talks are…
"Q Mr. President, we’re hearing rumblings from China that they’re not really positive about a trade deal and that perhaps (inaudible) may not happen. Where is that?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I haven’t heard that. I think they’re doing well. But if it happened that way, we’ll do even better. We’ll do very well either way, with or without a deal. But you’re telling me something that I have not heard.
Q Do you feel confident that you can get a trade deal with China?
THE…