Antony Blinken in Biden campaign vs. Biden administration
On Foreign Policy:
With Japan on checking North Korea & China aggression
I think one of the things that the United States and Japan both see is that China is acting both more aggressively at home and more aggressively abroad. It's important for us to make clear that China cannot expect us to allow it to act with impunity.
We have a real stake in this because this is about making sure that we maintain a peaceful stable environment. It is about making sure that things that really matter to us, like freedom of navigation, freedom of commerce, is sustained.
We've actually had trilateral conversations with Japan and South Korea about North Korea, and we have a strong shared common interest in dealing with the challenge posed by North Korea's nuclear programs, missile programs, and human rights abuses.
I think all three countries found benefit in that. So at the end of the day, I think that we each will find that it's in our respective interests to pursue that [trilateral] cooperation, and I'm confident we'll be able to do that.
Source: Japan Forward interview: on 2021 Biden Administration
Apr 1, 2021
On Foreign Policy:
No special treatment for Hong Kong due to China's actions
Hong Kong does not warrant preferential treatment under US law owing to the erosion of its autonomy at the hands of Beijing, the Biden administration said, upholding a Trump-era determination made last year. "Over the past year, the People's Republic of
China has continued to dismantle Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy, in violation of its obligations under the Sino-British Joint Declaration and Hong Kong's Basic Law," Blinken said.
Source: South China Morning Post on 2021 Biden Administration
Apr 1, 2021
On Health Care:
Don't tie access to COVID vaccines to geopolitics
Various countries, including China, have been engaged in so-called vaccine diplomacy. Of course, sometimes this diplomacy comes with strings attached, and certain requests are made. I think that's deeply unfortunate because
we shouldn't tie the distribution or access to vaccines to politics or to geopolitics. This needs to be done by everyone who's able to do it, because it's in the overall interest of humanity.
Source: Japan Forward interview: on 2021 Biden Administration
Apr 1, 2021
On Civil Rights:
Human rights are co-equal; there is no hierarchy
In a sharp rebuke to Trump-era policies, Secretary of State Antony Blinken formally scrapped a blueprint championed by his predecessor to limit U.S. promotion of human rights abroad to causes favored by conservatives like religious freedom and property
matters while dismissing reproductive and LGBTQ rights."One of the core principles of human rights is that they are universal. All people are entitled to these rights, no matter where they're born, what they believe, whom they love, or any other
characteristic," Blinken said. "Human rights are also co-equal; there is no hierarchy that makes some rights more important than others."
The Biden administration has already repealed several Trump-era human rights decisions. Those have included
reengaging with the U.N. Human Rights Council, abandoning the so-called Geneva Consensus and Mexico City rule that oppose abortion rights and restoring LGBTQ protections as a matter of administration policy.
Source: Associated Press on 2021 Biden Administration
Mar 30, 2021
On Civil Rights:
Women's rights--including sexual rights--are human rights
Blinken formally scrapped a blueprint championed by his predecessor to limit U.S. promotion of human rights abroad, [which] dismissed reproductive and LGBTQ rights.Blinken also reversed a Trump administration decision to remove sections on
reproductive rights from the State Department's annual human rights reports on foreign countries. "Women's rights--including sexual and reproductive rights--are human rights," he said.
In presenting the annual human rights reports, Blinken said he had
instructed the State Department to restore sections on reproductive rights to future editions [to replace sections prepared in the Trump administration]. He ordered the department to prepare addendums to the 2020 reports that include information about
maternal mortality, discrimination against women in accessing sexual and reproductive health care and government policies about access to contraception and skilled health care during pregnancy and childbirth.
Source: Associated Press on 2021 Biden Administration
Mar 30, 2021
On Welfare & Poverty:
Reopen desperately needed humanitarian access to Syria
Blinken addressed the United Nations Security Council in an at-times passionate plea to increase desperately needed humanitarian access to Syria. "Stop taking part in or making excuses for attacks that close these pathways and stop targeting
humanitarian aid workers and the Syrian civilians they're trying to help. Stop making humanitarian assistance on which millions of Syrians lives depends a political issue," he said.
Source: CNN on 2021 Biden Administration
Mar 29, 2021
On Energy & Oil:
Work with other countries on climate; US can take lead
We will tackle the climate crisis and drive a green energy revolution. The climate crisis is endangering all of us and costing us more by the month. We can't fix it alone. This is the definition of a problem we need to work together to solve.
And we can't settle for only doing the bare minimum. We have to challenge ourselves and each other to do more. While we do, we must also position the United States to thrive and lead in the growing global market for renewable energy.
Source: State Department speech: 2021 Biden Administration
Mar 3, 2021
On Foreign Policy:
Shoring up our democracy is a foreign policy imperative
Shoring up our democracy is a foreign policy imperative. Strong democracies are more stable, more open, better partners to us, more committed to human rights, less prone to conflict, and more dependable markets for our goods and services.
When democracies are weak, governments can't deliver for their people or a country becomes so polarized that it's hard for anything to get done. And they become less reliable partners to the United States. None of that is in our national interest.
Source: State Department speech: 2021 Biden Administration
Mar 3, 2021
On Foreign Policy:
Working will allies & partners is enlightened self-interest
We will revitalize our ties with our allies and partners. Over the decades, these commitments have created new markets for our products, new allies to deter aggression, and new partners to help meet global challenges. We had a name for it: "enlightened
self-interest." We'll be clear that real partnership means carrying burdens together, everyone doing their part--not just us. Wherever the rules for international security and the global economy are being written, America will be there.
Source: State Department speech: 2021 Biden Administration
Mar 3, 2021
On Foreign Policy:
We must engage China from a position of strength
We will manage the biggest geopolitical test of the 21st century: our relationship with China.China is the only country with the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to seriously challenge the stable and open international system.
Our relationship with China will be competitive when it should be, collaborative when it can be, and adversarial when it must be. The common denominator is the need to engage China from a position of strength.
Source: State Department speech: 2021 Biden Administration
Mar 3, 2021
On Free Trade:
Focus must be trade policies benefiting all Americans
Some of us previously argued for free trade agreements because we believed Americans would broadly share in the economic gains that those--and that those deals would shape the global economy in ways that we wanted. We didn't do enough to understand
who would be negatively affected. Our trade policies will need to answer very clearly how they will grow the American middle class, create new and better jobs, and benefit all Americans, not only those for whom the economy is already working.
Source: State Department speech: 2021 Biden Administration
Mar 3, 2021
On Health Care:
COVID: Ensure that a crisis like this won't happen again
The pandemic has defined lives--our lives--for more than a year. To beat it back, we need governments, scientists, businesses, and communities around the world working together. At the same time, we need to make sure we learn
the right lessons and make the right investments in global health security, including tools to predict, prevent, and stop pandemics, and a firm global commitment to share accurate and timely information, so that a crisis like this never happens again.
Source: State Department speech: 2021 Biden Administration
Mar 3, 2021
On Homeland Security:
Diplomacy--not military action--will always come first
As the President has promised, diplomacy--not military action--will always come first. Americans are rightly wary of prolonged U.S. military interventions abroad. We've seen how they've often come at far too high a cost, both to us and to others.
We must remember what we've learned about the limits of force to build a durable peace; that the day after a major military intervention is always harder than we imagine; and how critical it is to pursue every possible avenue to a diplomatic solution.
Source: State Department speech: 2021 Biden Administration
Mar 3, 2021
On Immigration:
Work to create a humane and effective immigration system
We will work to create a humane and effective immigration system. We need a diplomatic, and just plain decent, solution to the fact that people from other countries risk everything to try to make it here. We need to address the root causes that
drive so many people to flee their homes. We'll work closely with other countries to help them deliver better physical security and economic opportunity so people don't feel like migrating is the only way out and up.
Source: State Department speech: 2021 Biden Administration
Mar 3, 2021
On Jobs:
Build a diverse national security workforce
We'll build a national security workforce that reflects America in all its diversity, because we're operating in a diverse world, and our diversity is a unique source of strength that few countries can match.
When we don't have a diverse team, it's like we're conducting diplomacy with one arm tied behind our back. This is a national security imperative and a personal priority for me.
Source: State Department speech: 2021 Biden Administration
Mar 3, 2021
On Principles & Values:
American leadership and engagement matter
American leadership and engagement matter. Whether we like it or not, the world does not organize itself. When the U.S. pulls back, one of two things is likely to happen: either another country tries to take our place, but not in a way
that advances our interests and values; or, maybe just as bad, no one steps up, and then we get chaos and all the dangers it creates. Either way, that's not good for America.
Source: State Department speech: 2021 Biden Administration
Mar 3, 2021
On Principles & Values:
At our best US is a country with integrity and a heart
At our best, the United States is a country with integrity and a heart. That's what makes us proud to be Americans and why so many people around the world have given everything to become Americans. We will stand firm behind our commitments to
human rights, democracy, the rule of law. And we'll stand up against injustice toward women and girls, LGBTQI people, religious minorities, and people of all races and ethnicities. Because all human beings are equal in rights and dignity.
Source: State Department speech: 2021 Biden Administration
Mar 3, 2021
On Principles & Values:
Bring nonpartisanship back to our foreign policy
We will bring nonpartisanship back to our foreign policy. There was a time, as the saying goes, when politics stopped at the water's edge.
Secretaries of State didn't represent Democrats or Republicans. We represented all Americans. Some might think the idea is quaint now. Well, I don't. And the President doesn't either.
Source: State Department speech: 2021 Biden Administration
Mar 3, 2021
Page last updated: Jan 17, 2022