How Does Alex Wong, Trump’s Incoming National Security Deputy, View China?

Alex Wong, a senior official under the first Trump administration, has been appointed by President-elect Donald Trump as his principal deputy national security adviser.

A lawyer by training, Wong had served as Trump’s deputy special representative for North Korea. He helped negotiate the 2018 summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Before taking on North Korea-related roles, Wong oversaw regional and security affairs at the State Department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs and led the department’s implementation of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy.

Regarding China, Wong has criticized the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), voiced support for Taiwan, and advocated for more active engagement with Indo-Pacific countries to counterbalance the CCP’s hard and soft powers in the region.

Related Stories

Yao-Yuan Yeh, chair of International Studies and Modern Languages at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, recently told The Epoch Times that Wong has a “really deep understanding” of “the nature of the Chinese Communist Party.”

“On the one hand, you can say he’s pretty hawkish against China, and on the other hand, he’s also very American-centric, understanding that our primary strategy is [that] we got to … stay on top of these hegemony competitions,” he said.

Here’s what we know about Wong’s views on China.

Endgame Debate

Much of Wong’s assessment of China is reflected in his article published in October 2023 by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute (RRPFI), a Washington-based nonpartisan organization.

As China closes its power gap with the United States on military, diplomatic, and technological fronts, Washington has arrived at a consensus that the CCP is the biggest geopolitical threat to the United States. However, debate persists on the details, such as what endgame the United States should aim for.

Some envision a democratic China free from the control of the CCP, while others focus on strengthening the United States’ military and industrial power to maintain an advantage, using diplomatic tools to prevent a hot war with China.

“It is a reality in which regardless of whether the United States pursues détente with China or democracy within it, the CCP will increasingly be presented with dilemmas for its legitimacy,” he said.

“This is because the CCP has based its domestic legitimacy—and its ultimate capacity to rule—on an aggressive international grand strategy,” including unfair trade practices, absorption of foreign investment and knowledge, diplomatic coercion, winning in territorial disputes, and suppressing minorities in violation of international rules, he added.

Both the signing of the law and the visit—days apart from each other—were met with protests from Beijing.

Speaking at a reception attended by then-President Tsai Ing-wen during his Taiwan visit, Wong, then-deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, said the U.S. commitment to Taiwan’s determination had “never been stronger.”

The commitment “doesn’t change from administration to administration, from president to president,” he said.

“It doesn’t change [with] the rise or fall of the fortunes of other powers in the region. It doesn’t change with the emergence of new challenges or new threats because our relationship isn’t transactional.

“Instead, it is undergirded and animated by shared and enduring values. The United States has been, is, and always will be, Taiwan’s closest friend and partner.”

Wong also reaffirmed U.S. support for Taiwan to be included in international fora, saying its exclusion was “unjust” for the island nation and those who would “benefit from Taiwan’s contributions” to the world.

He said the United States should prioritize its own interests and those of its regional allies rather than getting distracted by China’s internal politics and the demands of the CCP.

Wong recommended that the United States lean on AUKUS—a security partnership between Australia, the UK, and the United States—and Japan for security in the Indo-Pacific.

That’s because the three allies have a combined military capability that’s the strongest in the region, they are willing to work with the United States, and each has historic ties in the region that run deeper than those of the United States, he said.

With other regional partners, Wong said, the United States needs to actively pursue trade ties, friend-shore critical industries, and support liberty and human rights.

Yeh told The Epoch Times that he expects Trump to be “very tough” on China, more than he was during his first term.

“I think he is very aware of the challenge of China compared to the moment he was on board in 2017. He was trying to befriend Xi Jinping in 2017, but it didn’t work well, and it doesn’t seem like China is actually listening to Trump,” he said.

“Given what has happened over the eight years, especially the pandemic, I think now he’s very aware of the dangers of China.”

Another reason the administration will be tough, Yeh said, is the urgent need to counter the increasingly belligerent Chinese regime.

Describing the CCP as the “No. 1” challenge to U.S. hegemony, he said, “If we’re not containing China, if we’re not doing more at this current moment, we may be too late.”

Yeh describes Trump’s team as geopolitical “realists” and anticipates a “new height” in U.S.–China competition.

The Epoch Times reached out to Wong and Trump’s transition team for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

Terri Wu contributed to this report.