2020 US Presidential Candidates on the Indo-Pacific

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.

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Final Presidential Debate Between President Trump and Joe Biden - China and North Korea

"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…

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Executive Order on Addressing the Threat Posed by TikTok

"By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code,

I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, find that additional steps must be taken to deal with the national emergency with respect to the information and communications technology and services…

President Trump's Interview with Fox Business' Lou Dobbs - China

Remarks by President Trump in Press Conference - China

"Today, I signed legislation and an executive order to hold China accountable for its oppressive actions against the people of Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Autonomy Act, which I signed this afternoon, passed unanimously through Congress. This law gives my administration powerful new tools to hold responsible the individuals and the entities involved in extinguishing Hong Kong’s freedom. We’ve all watched what happened. Not a good situation. Their freedom has been taken away. Their rights have been taken away. And with it, goes Hong Kong…

Remarks by President Trump During the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing - North Korea

"Q Mr. President, you, a couple days ago, said that you might reach out to Kim Jong Un directly, but also that you were working to find out if those reports about him being in possible medical trouble were true. I’m wondering if you’ve either —

THE PRESIDENT: I hope he’s not in medical trouble.

Q Well —

THE PRESIDENT: I hope he’s —

Q — have you heard anything from North Korea or —

THE PRESIDENT: I’ve gotten along very well with him. And…

Remarks by President Trump During the April 27, 2020 Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing - China and North Korea

"Q Mr. President, Charlie Spiering from Breitbart News. And a majority of polls show that Americans blame China for the spread of the coronavirus, and yet they’re taking advantage of the crisis to make the world more dependent on their supply chains. How do you get — how do you hold China accountable and how do you keep our country — how do you incentivize our businesses?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, Charlie, there are a lot of ways you can hold them accountable. We’re doing very…

Remarks by President Trump at the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing - China

"And these supply chains, they sound wonderful, but if one country has a problem, the whole chain is ruined. And I’ve been saying it for a long time. I ran partially on that. I ran partially on that. I ran on that, and I ran very strongly against China. And then we made a great trade deal where they buy $250 billion. They’re supposed to. And they’re paying tariffs. They paid us tens of billions of dollars. I’ve given $12 billion one year, $16 billion…

Remarks by President Trump at the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing - South Korea

"Q Yes. Another — a different question about South Korea. There are reports that you are personally negotiating with President Moon the terms of reduction of U.S. forces on the Korean Peninsula, and that there are four scenarios involved. Can you confirm that? And, if so, what is your desired outcome?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think that South Korea — I had a great talk with President Moon. He’s a friend of mine. I congratulated — he had a wonderful election victory. I was very…

Remarks by President Trump at Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing - China

"Q So can you explain why it is appropriate, in the middle of a pandemic, to be talking about cutting or eliminating funding for the World Health Organization?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re going to talk about the WHO next week in great detail. I didn’t want to do it today — Good Friday. I didn’t want to do it before Easter. I also didn’t want to do it before we have all the facts.

But over the years, many years, we’ve been paying them from…

Remarks by President Trump During the Coronavirus Task Force Press Briefing - China

"THE PRESIDENT: [...] The question was asked a little while ago about the World Health Organization. And, as you know, they made a statement on June — on January 14th, I guess it was, that there was no human-to-human transmission. Well, there was. They probably made that statement in the second or third week of December, in addition, but they made it very powerfully on January 14th. And they criticized me very strongly when I said that we’re going to shut down flights coming in…

President Trump's Remarks on Trade with China

"Q Thank you, Mr. President. Only last week, there were multiple flights coming from China full of medical supplies.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

Q Companies like Huawei and Alibaba has been donating to the United States —

THE PRESIDENT: Right. People I know very well.

Q — like 1.5 million N95 masks, and also a lot of medical gloves and much more medical supplies. So —

THE PRESIDENT: Sounds like a statement more than a question.

Q And Ambassador — Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai last night…

Remarks by President Trump at Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing - China

"Q You spoke to Chinese President Xi yesterday. What did he tell you, in terms of data, that he’s going to share —

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.

Q — and how they got the number of cases to go down?

THE PRESIDENT: So I had a great conversation with the President of China last night, pretty late in the night. It was fascinating to me. You know, they have a whole — it’s a different kind of a world. It’s a different form of government, to…

Remarks by President Trump on China and Asian Americans

“Q (Laughs.) Mr. President, on Monday, did you speak with Chinese President Xi before you urged Americans to not blame Asian Americans for the coronavirus? We noticed that you’ve backed off of that language. I know you’re speaking with him again tonight.

THE PRESIDENT: No, I didn’t. I’m speaking to him tonight. It’s scheduled to go tonight. I’ll have a call with President Xi of China. I have a very good relationship.

No, I didn’t like when they came up. And it — it wasn’t…