TACOMA, Washington — President-Elect Joe Biden nominated Antony Blinken to serve as Secretary of State in his Cabinet. The Secretary of State is the chief foreign affairs advisor to the president and carries out the president’s foreign policies through the State Department and the Foreign Service. The position plays an influential role in determining the direction of U.S. foreign policy.
Antony Blinken
Blinken served as Deputy Secretary of State under President Obama from 2015 to 2017. He also held senior foreign policy positions in the Clinton and Bush administrations. Under Obama, he was one of the key players in formulating the Syria policy and the response to the Russian Federation’s annexation of Crimea. In the private sector, Blinken co-founded WestExec Advisors, a political strategy advising firm, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
As Secretary of State in the Biden administration, Blinken has said that he plans to “bring aid back into the center of foreign policy” through an emphasis on diplomacy, development and democracy.
Blinken’s Positions on Key Foreign Policy Issues:
On U.S.-China Relations: Blinken favors a diplomatic and cooperative approach to U.S.-China relations rather than cutting ties entirely. However, he does believe that the U.S. is in a weaker strategic position than China, so part of the foreign policy needs to be getting out of the “strategic deficit that President Trump has put the U.S. in.” During the Trump term, Blinken believes that there was a failure to prioritize human rights in China, like the persecution of the Uyghurs, and he plans to hold the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) accountable for the violations. He also plans to step up defenses of Taiwan’s democracy against China’s attempts to interfere.
On Aid to Israel: Blinken is supportive of the continued U.S. alliance with Israel. Aid to Palestinian authorities would be reinstated under the Biden administration unconditionally, regardless of whether or not Israel honored international agreements and the two-state solution. The Biden administration “would not tie their military assistance to Israel to any political decisions that it makes… it is in our interest that Israel has the means to secure itself.”
On the Iran Nuclear Deal: Blinken is in favor of rejoining the Iran nuclear deal, provided Iran returns to compliance with the terms of the JCPOA. He would also want to work with U.S. allies to strengthen and lengthen it. U.S. sanctions on Iran, though, would still largely stay in place. Blinken hopes that reinstating the JCPOA and getting back on the same page as U.S. allies would curb not only Iran’s nuclear development but other destabilizing activities in the region.
On the Civil War in Syria: Blinken has advocated for more U.S. involvement in the conflict in Syria. He says that “force can be a necessary adjunct to effective diplomacy. In Syria, we rightly sought to avoid another Iraq by not doing too much but we made the opposite error of doing too little.” He acknowledges both the Obama administration’s initial failure — inaction, even when the government crossed Obama’s “red line” and used chemical weapons — and the Trump administration’s continued failure in withdrawing troops from northeast Syria. Blinken is an interventionist and will likely advise Biden to use more force in resolving the conflict.
On the Civil War in Yemen: Antony Blinken initially defended U.S.intervention in Yemen in 2015, which has since proven itself a disastrous decision. In 2018, he was one of many former Obama administration officials to sign a letter in support of ending U.S. involvement in the war. He will support Biden’s pledge to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led military campaign. As a whole, he will prioritize “human rights and democratic principles” in the Middle East.
The Future of Foreign Aid
As a whole, experts say that the Biden administration has the potential to do well with regard to foreign aid. They expect that aid will be given out to countries who need it, rather than based on politics. It is hopeful that Blinken will steer foreign policy in the direction of protecting human rights and global development.
– Brooklyn Quallen
Photo: Flickr