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…
"Four years ago in November, one of the last events I hosted at the Vice President’s residence was a Diwali reception. Here I was, an Irish Catholic Vice President opening my home for a holiday traditionally observed by Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Jains, and that night joined by Muslims, Christians, and Indian Americans of various backgrounds representing the diversity of the diaspora. In the shadow of a devastating and dark election, we gathered together for the festival of lights and new beginnings.
We found hope…
"As we pursue this bright future, we must hold accountable the nation which unleashed this plague onto the world: China.
In the earliest days of the virus, China locked down travel domestically while allowing flights to leave China and infect the world. China condemned my travel ban on their country, even as they cancelled domestic flights and locked citizens in their homes.
The Chinese government and the World Health Organization — which is virtually controlled by China — falsely declared that there was no evidence…
"COOPER: Do you view China as an opponent? Because the President says you've been too cozy with China, too accepting of them in the international community.BIDEN: I'm not the guy. Look, China, we now have a larger trade deficit with China than we've ever had with China.And in our Administration, when the World Trade Organization, he keeps going on about, just ruled that his trade policy violated the World Trade Organization, we sued. We went to the World Trade Organization 16 times, 16 times.COOPER: Do…
"Q Thank you, Mr. President. Are you prepared to sign off on the Oracle and TikTok deal, even though the Treasury isn’t getting paid? And also, does the deal meet your requirements in terms of national security concerns?
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, they’re giving me studies on the deal. It has to be 100 percent as far as national security is concerned. And, no, I’m not prepared to sign off on anything. I have to see the deal.
We need security, especially after what we’ve seen…
"STEPHANOPOULOS: I wanted to ask you about…
TRUMP: …China was heavily infected. And nobody, by the way, I read where other people said do it. No people that I saw said do it. And I know they said security advisors and others. I put a ban on when it wasn’t at all popular.
Joe Biden said I was xenophobic because I put the ban on, and I thought that was a very unfair -- and by the way he’s totally taken that back. But I’m…
"Biden wants to surrender our country to the virus, he wants to surrender our families to the violent left-wing mob, and he wants to surrender our jobs to China — our jobs and our economic wellbeing. I’ve taken in billions and billions of dollars from China. No other President has done what I’ve done. I’ve given much of it to the farmers. I’ve given it to farmers and manufacturers, but I’ve given most of it to the U.S. Treasury. Nobody has done that. We haven’t…
"Q During the conventions, Kimberly and Don Jr. had the outreach — the Indian American community — with a video called “Four More Years” for you, which has gone viral among the Indian Americans in the battleground states.
So my question is: Would Kimberly, Don Jr., and Ivanka Trump, who are very popular among Indian Americans — would be campaigning on your behalf around the Indian Americans with your views on the India and U.S. relationship?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I — I didn’t understand everything…
"Q U.S.-China talks were postponed. You were supposed to have a review of this —
THE PRESIDENT: I don’t want to — that’s right.
Q — trade deal. So —
THE PRESIDENT: I postponed them.
Q So, is the —
THE PRESIDENT: I postponed talks with China. You know why? I don’t want to deal with them now. I don’t want to deal with them now. With what they did to this country and to the world, I don’t want to talk to China right…
"Q Thank you, Mr. President. Larry Kudlow said that there’s a routine check-in call with China on the phase one trade deal. My question is: What if they bring up TikTok and also WeChat? Would you enga- — would you instruct your team to engage them on that executive order you just signed?
THE PRESIDENT: No, we have a deadline of September 15th. And whether it’s Microsoft, I understand — and others are negotiating — we also said that, obviously, it’s worthless if we don’t…
"Dear Madam Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:)
Pursuant to 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 hereby report that I have issued an Executive Order (the “order”) that takes additional steps to deal with the national emergency with respect to the information and communications technology and services supply chain declared in Executive Order 13873 of May 15, 2019 (Securing the Information and…
"Dear Madam Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:)
Pursuant to 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 hereby report that I have issued an Executive Order (the “order”) that takes additional steps to deal with the national emergency with respect to the information and communications technology and services supply chain declared in Executive Order 13873 of May 15, 2019 (Securing the Information and…
"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…
"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…
"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…
"A boy landed in the hospital after being beaten up by his classmates on school grounds. A little girl was pushed off her bike in the middle of a park. A nurse was assaulted on the subway, and another was spit on while delivering medicine to a sick patient. A father was hit over the head by a man swearing at him on the street.
In the past several months, countless Asian Americans have been punched and kicked and threatened…
"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…
"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…
"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…
"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…
"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…
"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…
"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…
"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…
“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…
Q Okay. Why do you keep calling this the “Chinese virus”? There are reports of dozens of incidents of bias against Chinese Americans in this country. Your own aide, Secretary Azar, says he does not use this term. He says, “Ethnicity does not cause the virus.” Why do you keep using this? A lot of —
THE PRESIDENT: Because it comes from China.
Q — people say it’s racist.
THE PRESIDENT: It’s not racist at all. No. Not at all. It comes from China. That’s…
"Q Mr. President, if I could, on China: They reported, for the first time since the outbreak, no new cases over a 24-hour period. Do you have any reason to disbelieve them? And second to that: The National Security Council yesterday put out a tweet very critical of the Chinese government, saying the Chinese Communist Party suppressed initial reports on the Chinese virus and punished doctors and journalists causing Chinese and international experts to miss critical opportunities to prevent a global pandemic.
Could you expand…
"Q And given that many of the precursors for our pharmaceuticals come from China, and there have been disrupt- — there have been supply disruptions — that supply chain has been broken to some degree — do you expect that we could run into a shortage of prescription drugs?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I don’t see that at all. And I think China has every incentive to make sure that things work well. China wants to make sure that things work very well. They have every…
The story of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) in the United States is far from a single narrative, as it consists of many unique experiences and remarkable contributions. Trailblazers like Wong Kim Ark and Patsy Takemoto Mink advanced fundamental rights, from birthright citizenship to Title IX of the Higher Education Act, which requires equal treatment of women. Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees made courageous journeys to rebuild their lives and start new businesses and communities in America. The 442nd Regiment, composed almost entirely of Japanese…
"You know, for years, one administration after another — frankly, in both political parties — stood by while we amassed extraordinary trade deficits with China. I mean, China took advantage of access to our economy while giving very limited access of what we grow and what we make to their economy.
It’s amazing to think when we went through our inauguration on January 20th, 2017, literally half — $500 billion — half of our international trade deficit was with China. But this President made it…
"Just the last month, it’s been an incredible month of progress. And while the Congress is spending their time on other matters, you saw President Trump sign phase one of a new trade deal with China that for the first time includes the beginning of protections of intellectual property and will increase manufacturing exports by $50 billion in the next two years. (Applause.) It’s a beginning.
China has already begun lifting tariffs on American products. They’ve pledged to end currency manipulation. President Trump has made…
"THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you all very much for that very warm welcome. And on behalf of the President of the United States and the First Family: Welcome to the White House. (Applause.)
And join me in thanking an extraordinary leader. I just — as soon as I heard her voice, I had to jump out from behind the curtain. (Laughter.) She is not only the 18th Secretary of Transportation, but frankly, she is one of the most distinguished public servants in the United…
*This interview was originally conducted on December 16, 2019.
"Jim Dao: You campaigned on your ability to handle a crisis. If China were to send troops and tanks into Hong Kong to violently crack down on peaceful protesters, how would you handle that?
Well, that’s a very, I’m not sure I should answer it on ——
JD: Why not?
Let me put it this way. First of all, the first thing I’d do is go to the United Nations. I would introduce resolutions to condemn…
*This interview was recorded earlier but the transcript does not give a specific date.
"KK: Assume that for a moment that the Chinese government makes a decision that they’re going to flood the streets with troops in order to crack down on the protests that are happening in Hong Kong. What would you do? How would you respond as president?
Well, the message would need to go to China, that if they’re going to perpetrate a repeat of Tiananmen, that that will lead to them…
"PRESIDENT TRUMP: I thought that we would do it the way other; that the more I thought about this, the better it is. It’s — you can get your arms around it better the way we’ve got it. I like it better the way we’ve done it.
I just want to say this is a great day for both China and the United States. This is an agreement that people have been talking about for 40 years and never were able to get even a…
*This interview originally took place on December 10, 2019*
"Serge Schmemann: Senator, can I ask you about China? [...]
SS: About China. The Chinese have been repressing fairly ruthlessly.
With the Uighurs.
SS: The Uighurs and other Muslim minorities. Can or should the United States take action on their behalf?
I think the United States should be standing up much taller on this front, both with Hong Kong, and you see Congress acted on that front with authorizing some sanctions and passing a law which the…
*This interview oringally took place on December 4, 2019, before Andrew Yang failed to qualify for the January 14, 2020 debate.
James Dao: Can I pose a future hypothetical? If the Chinese government were to flood Hong Kong with military troops after you were president and impose a violent crackdown, similar to, say, Tiananmen Square in 1989, what would you do?
I have family in Hong Kong. I spent a semester there in college, and so when I see those streets wracked with riots and…
*This interview originally took place on December 4, 2019*
"James Dao: Moving from Europe to Asia, if China were to send troops, massive numbers of troops into Hong Kong, and impose a violent crackdown there similar to Tiananmen Square in 1989, what would you do as president? [...]You know, this is a hard hypothetical to take on until you actually know what’s happening. Again, you’ve got to back this one up on where we should have started. When the unrest first started unfolding in Hong Kong…
*This interview originally took place on December 2, 2019*
"AK: The president shares a lot of your concerns about our economic relationship with China and the other ——
No, the president does not, not quite. I mean, I know his rhetoric. I look at the world very differently than Mr. Trump does, but go ahead.
AK: [LAUGHS] I’m wondering if you could explain how your approach to dealing with China would be different from the president and how it would elicit better outcomes.
China is one…
"Q Mr. President, you mentioned the Chinese trade deal that you’re working on; you’re going to be signing, next week, phase one. Can you give us a sense of phase two —
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q — what you hope to accomplish there? And will you be travelling to Beijing for that?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, phase one is a big, big number. It’s a big percentage of the deal. Some would say half, some would say a little less, or a little more than half…
"Q Mr. President, can you — what is your message tonight for — what is your message tonight for North Korea?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’ll see. I have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un. I know he’s sending out certain messages about Christmas presents, and I hope his Christmas present is a beautiful vase. That’s what I’d like — a vase —
Q Do you think it will be, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: — as opposed to something else. I don’t know. I —…
"We have our great deal with China. China has already started to buy, with the farmers and with the manufacturers. Tremendous amounts of money are being spent back in the United States. And the farmers are happy. They had to put up with a lot, but we took care of them out of the subsidies that we were getting out of the tariffs that we were getting. But China is now buying very big in the farm belt and in the manufacturing belt also. They’re…
"We have — the China deal, as you know, it was just approved a little while ago. And it’s — to me, it’s not complicated, but that’s what I do. It’s a phenomenal deal. The tariffs will largely remain at 25 percent on $250 billion. And we’ll use them for future negotiations on the phase two deal, because China would like to see the tariffs off, and we — we’re okay with that. But they’ll be used as a negotiating table for the phase two…
"United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), along with Senators Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), and Tim Kaine (D-Va.), sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper raising concerns about the national security risks posed by U.S. reliance on foreign-manufactured pharmaceutical products. The senators' letter follows the publication of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission's 2019 Annual Report that highlights the nation's "growing reliance" on products critical to the manufacturing of drugs, which are primarily made in China.
In recent years, China has…
"Q Mr. President, how do you plan on reengaging North Korea in the negotiations?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’ll see about North Korea. I’d be surprised if North Korea acted hostiley [sic]. I have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un. I think we both want to keep it that way. He knows I have an election coming up. I don’t think he wants to interfere with that. But we’ll have to see.
He’s somebody that I’ve gotten along with very well for three years…
"Q Could I ask you about NATO? Why is China such an important subject for this NATO Summit? What threat do they pose?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, China has become very powerful and much more so than in the past. They’ve done it, largely, with United States money, because our past Presidents allowed them to steal the cookie cutter. And that’s okay — I don’t begrudge China for that. I begrudge — I’m very disappointed in our past Presidents and leadership. They allowed this to happen…
"PRESIDENT TRUMP: And with trade, I have all the cards. We’ve built a — we have built something in the last three years that’s been incredible. You’ve seen it. We’re up $21 trillion, and China is down about $32 trillion.
And as you know, for years, I’ve been hearing that it was “2019.” “In 2019, China’s going to become the largest economy.” Well, that didn’t happen. We’re much larger than China now, because we’ve gone up and they’ve gone down. And they’ve had their worst…
"On behalf of the American people, Melania and I offer our deepest condolences to the people of Japan and to the loved ones of former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone. We were saddened to learn of his passing in Tokyo on Friday.
Prime Minister Nakasone was, in the words of President Ronald Reagan, “a friend, a wise colleague, and the leader of America’s most important partner and ally in the Pacific.” The former Prime Minister’s efforts to strengthen the United States-Japan alliance and his commitment to…
"Today, I have signed into law S. 1838, the “Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019” (the “Act”). The Act reaffirms and amends the United States-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992, specifies United States policy towards Hong Kong, and directs assessment of the political developments in Hong Kong. Certain provisions of the Act would interfere with the exercise of the President’s constitutional authority to state the foreign policy of the United States. My Administration will treat each of the provisions of the…