U. S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren says chaos in the Trump administration is harming its ability to formulate coherent policy toward North Korea’s nuclear program<\/b>
\nBEIJING \u2013 U. S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren says chaos in the Trump administration is harming its ability to formulate coherent policy toward North Korea\u2019s nuclear program and other important issues in Asia.
Vacancies in the foreign service are undermining Washington\u2019s ability to advance U. S interests, Warren told reporters in Beijing on Saturday.
U. S. allies, while still supportive, are \u201csearching for information\u201d about U. S. intentions in Asia, the Massachusets Democrat said.
\u201cThis has been a chaotic foreign policy in the region, and that makes it hard to keep the allies that we need to accomplish our objectives closely stitched-in,\u201d Warren said.
Warren also visited South Korea and Japan during her trip to Asia.
She said President Donald Trump\u2019s agreement to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was \u201crash,\u201d in the absence of Pyongyang\u2019s commitment to take \u201cany steps at all to indicate that they were serious about denuclearization.\u201d
On China, Warren said the U. S. needs to acknowledge Beijing\u2019s growing power and influence and continue to emphasize the importance of human rights within the relationship.
\u201cI understand that our relationship with China is complex,\u201d Warren said. \u201cThere are areas where we have mutual interests and where we will work together to try to accomplish our shared goals. But there are also areas where we are vigorous competitors and do not have shared interests.\u201d
Warren said the idea that China would more smoothly integrate with the rest of the world based on its economic growth and open markets \u201chas been proven wrong.\u201d
\u201cAnd the United States is now trying to recalibrate that relationship,\u201d she said.
China\u2019s massive surveillance system, including its control over information on smartphones and the internet, has helped it to \u201cclose off\u201d the country, she said.
\u201cWe told ourselves a happy-faced story that never fit with the facts, and now\u2026 the United States cannot avoid facing a very different reality with China,\u201d Warren said.
Warren\u2019s visit to Northeast Asia follows the abrupt firing of Rex Tillerson as U. S. secretary of state and the Trump administration\u2019s continued failure to fill many crucial positions.
Tillerson lost the support of many of the State Department\u2019s 75,000 workers over his moves to cut the budget, leave key leadership positions vacant and downplay human rights and democracy promotion as diplomatic priorities.
Warren said \u201cconsistent efforts to take the legs out of our diplomatic corps\u201d by understaffing the service stands to undermine America\u2019s foreign policy efforts.
\u201cThat\u2019s someone whose information, whose thoughts, whose analysis doesn\u2019t get put into the mix,\u201d she said.
Warren said that there could be no military solution to the dispute with North Korea and that she has been told that \u201cit will take strong economic and diplomatic efforts\u201d to reduce the threat posed by Pyongyang.
Warren didn\u2019t disclose details of her discussions with Beijing officials, including key economic adviser Liu He, but said \u201cthe Chinese have not deviated from their talking points.\u201d<\/p>\n