Antony Blinken, President Joe Biden’s secretary of state nominee, admitted Tuesday that President Donald Trump “was right” to take a “tougher approach to China,” though he disagreed with how Trump went about it.
Blinken made the comments during his confirmation hearing in which he agreed with some of Trump’s foreign policy actions, the New York Post reported.
“President Trump was right in taking a tougher approach to China,” the man who served as deputy secretary of state under former President Barack Obama said.
“I disagree very much with the way that we went about it in a number of areas, but the basic principle was the right one, and I think that’s actually helpful to our foreign policy.”
Blinken said he agreed with outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in calling China’s treatment of the Muslim minority Uighurs a “genocide.”
Biden’s secretary of state pick also said that “techno democracies,” not “techo autocracies,” should define the future of the internet.
Blinken praised other Trump initiatives, such as the recognition of Israel by several Arab countries and the normalization of trade between Kosovo and Serbia, but defended foreign policy moves he supported during the Obama administration.
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