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US-China relations
ChinaDiplomacy

To counter China, US must maintain soft power and alliances, Congress hears

Witnesses tell House panel President Donald Trump’s recent foreign policy moves undercut effective mix of military, aid and influence

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Protesters against US President Donald Trump’s decision to virtually shut down the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) at the Capitol in Washington on February 5. Photo: AFP
Mark Magnierin New York

Any effective counter to China’s growing military and political muscle must include alliances and the use of soft power, although US foreign policy needs to become more focused and effective in light of increasingly constrained US resources, witnesses told a Congressional hearing on Tuesday.

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Testifying before the US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on “emerging global threats”, analysts called out early moves by President Donald Trump, who in his first weeks back in the White House has threatened trade wars with Mexico and Canada; decimated the US Agency for International Development (USAID) that operated in 130 countries; and sided with Russia over Europe in a UN resolution on Ukraine.

“Soft power is not charity. It is a weapon, one that when wielded correctly can shape the battlefield before a single shot is fired,” said Meaghan Mobbs, director of the Centre for American Safety and Security, a foreign policy group.

Citing China’s Belt and Road Initiative, she added, “Beijing understands this. Moscow understands this.

“The question is, do we understand this?”

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Mobbs, a former paratrooper and combat veteran, said there was little doubt the traditional US foreign policy approach must be overhauled and streamlined.

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