WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to nominate his top White House Asia aide Kurt Campbell to serve as deputy secretary of state, said three U.S. sources on Thursday, tapping the veteran policy-maker as Washington seeks to stabilize ties with China.
The sources, who included a U.S. official, a congressional source and a U.S. source familiar with the matter, were confirming an earlier report by the Politico news organization.
Campbell is viewed as an intellectual author of former U.S. President Barack Obama’s “pivot to Asia” strategy, a vaunted but so far still limited rebalancing of resources to the region.
He outlined his approach to Asia in a 2016 book “The Pivot” which advocated strengthening existing alliances and building closer relations with states like India and Indonesia in the face of a rising China.
China poses a daunting diplomatic challenge for the United States, which wants to counter its growing military without provoking a conflict and to curb what Washington views as its unfair business practices while avoiding an all-out trade war.
Campbell now serves as White House coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs. During the Obama administration, he was assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs.
At the White House, Campbell has overseen the difficult relationship with China, which under the Trump and Biden administrations has deteriorated to its lowest level since normalization of diplomatic ties with Beijing in 1979.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Campbell, and the State Department declined comment.
(Reporting By Humeyra Pamuk, Patricia Zengerle and Steve Holland; Writing by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by David Gregorio)
