A Kamala Harris administration would continue America’s current policy of managing strategic competition with China in order to avoid war, according to a key plank of the Democrats’ 2024 policy platform made public this week.

The party platform calls for avoiding a costly “spiral to conflict” with China while seeking cooperation, though such cooperation so far has been largely rejected by Beijing as part of President Xi Jinping’s push to advance the communist system globally.

Tensions remain high between China and the U.S. in the Indo-Pacific over disputed islands in the South China Sea and over Taiwan, the self-ruled island democracy and major target for annexation by Beijing.

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The foreign policy plank of the Democratic platform was completed July 16, prior to President Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race and replacement by Ms. Harris atop the Democratic ticket. 

The Democratic National Committee, however, said in releasing the platform that the document is a strong statement on the joint work of the president and vice president, and offers “a progressive agenda” for the next administration.

The 92-page document hails Mr. Biden’s policies and successes while criticizing former President Donald Trump as a leader who would “dismantle our democracy.”

The platform states that Mr. Biden “has led with conviction” in seeking to secure the U.S. border and reform the nation’s immigration system, though Republicans still see the border crisis as a major political liability for Democrats and Ms. Harris, specifically. 

More broadly, Democrats view the current period of global change as an “inflection point” in an ideological battle between dictatorships and democracies. The party platform says that “democracy — rule by the people — is essential to moving our world forward and uplifting people everywhere.”

Democrats’ foreign policy will begin with diplomacy and use military force as a tool of last resort, the platform says, while also working with allies to confront major international issues such as climate change.

The China challenge

On China, the Democrats’ platform touts robust freedom of navigation operations by U.S. Navy warships in the region and support for the Philippines in its growing disputes with China over the disputed Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands.

Other regional successes touted by Democrats include expanding the U.S. military presence in Japan and adding U.S. military sites in the Philippines — two key Asian allies.

The platform casts all of that against the backdrop of an increasingly powerful China, which now represents the kind of global challenger that the U.S. has not seen in decades.

China “is the only global actor that combines the intention to fundamentally reshape the U.S.-led international order with an increasing military, economic, diplomatic, and technological capacity to do so,” the platform says.

To deal with the challenge, Democrats’ China policy seeks to avoid conflict through “tough but smart” policies. Those policies oppose Beijing’s unfair trade practices and aim to prevent China from using U.S. openness to obtain technologies that can threaten U.S. and allied security.

Instead of decoupling the closely linked American and Chinese economies, Democrats say they will continue to “de-risk” and diversify economic ties. That means a continuation of restrictions on exporting sensitive technology, a policy opposed by Beijing.

Despite criticizing the past Trump administration policy on tariffs, the Democrats’ platform states that Mr. Biden increased tariffs on Chinese products, including steel, aluminum, semiconductors, electric vehicles, batteries, critical minerals, solar cells, ship-to-shore cranes, and medical products.

The platform also praises the administration for pushing China to take action to curb the flow of deadly fentanyl into the Americas, and for pressing China on climate change. China remains the world’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and is continuing to build large numbers of coal-fired power plants.

On Taiwan, the Democrats platform vows to “remain steadfast” in working for peace and stability across the 100-mile Taiwan Strait, a flashpoint where China has stepped up saber-rattling sorties by its warplanes and warships on a daily basis.

The platform commits the next Democrat administration to continued adherence to the U.S. one-China policy that does not recognize mainland sovereignty over Taiwan, and other diplomatic communiques along with following the Taiwan Relations Act. The act calls for selling defensive arms to Taiwan.

On the aging U.S. nuclear arsenal, the next administration will continue the costly modernization but keep nuclear forces limited in scope and continue to pursue arms control talks with adversaries, the platform states.

“Aware of exacerbated nuclear proliferation challenges that the world is facing as Russia, the [People’s Republic of China] and North Korea expand and diversify their nuclear arsenals, and in the context of Iran continuing to enrich uranium at dangerous levels, the administration is showing what it means to act responsibly as a nuclear power,” the platform says.

Unlike Beijing and Moscow, where strategic doctrines and actions suggest preparations for the use of nuclear arms in future conflicts, Democrats say they will continue a doctrine that limits the use of nuclear arms to strictly deterring enemy nuclear strikes.

“Nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,” the platform says. “The United States is developing and fielding only what is required to deter while signaling openness to future arms control negotiations if competitors are interested.”

The emphasis on arms talks comes amid a sharp decline in world discussions on limiting nuclear weapons, including between the U.S. and its top global adversaries, Russia and China. 

Overall, according to the platform, the next administration will seek to maintain American military advantages through targeted strategic investments in advanced military technology, and a modernized nuclear force.

On North Korea, the platform calls for continuing efforts to counter the destabilizing growth of nuclear and missile forces. Pressure on Pyongyang will come from a bolstered trilateral relationship between Washington, Seoul and Tokyo.

Cyber warfare also will be addressed in a Harris administration through improved intelligence and seeking “rules for the road” for artificial intelligence, the platform states.

Divisions among Democrats

The Middle East plank of the platform states that both Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris support a strong, secure and democratic Israel as a vital U.S. interest — though that position could further inflame tensions between factions within the Democratic Party, with many on the far left increasingly turning against Israel and protesting the Biden administration’s continued support for the Jewish state in its war against Hamas in Gaza.

Such divisions were on full display already this week as thousands of protesters in Chicago demonstrated against American support for Israel’s military campaign in the Palestinian enclave.

On the other major global conflict raging right now, the Russia-Ukraine war, Democrats say their central focus will be preventing a wider war in Europe while helping Ukraine defend its sovereignty.

Russia remains a significant threat beyond the Ukraine war and is enlisting North Korea, Iran and China in its efforts to “attack freedom across the world,” the platform says.

In the Western Hemisphere, the platform states that the administration is building coalitions in the region to “make America safer and more prosperous.”

For Africa, the Democrats’ policy calls for advancing democracy, economic growth and improving health, along with addressing climate change.

But Democrats may struggle in pitching a clear, convincing foreign policy vision to the American people, as the Biden administration has come under intense fire for many of its actions over the last three years.

The Wall Street Journal, in an editorial Monday coinciding with the start of the Democratic convention, criticized Mr. Biden as “a president most Americans regard as a failure.”

The conservative editorial page said Mr. Biden’s foreign policy legacy will be linked to the outcome of the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. The editorial suggested those conflicts were partly the fault of Mr. Biden’s “ignominious withdrawal from Afghanistan” that was seen as weakness and emboldened adversaries.

The president “wasn’t able to deter Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine, nor Iran and its proxies from threatening the very existence of Israel,” the editorial said.

“But history’s harshest verdict may be that, with adversaries on the march, Mr. Biden proposed cuts in U.S. defense spending after inflation every year of his presidency,” the newspaper said. “This will haunt the next president, whoever it is, if the new axis of adversaries in China, Russia, Iran and elsewhere seek to exploit a U.S. military without the means to meet its global commitments.”