Antony Blinken, President-elect Joe Biden's choice to be secretary of state, will vow Tuesday that the United States will "outcompete" a rising China while reviving frayed alliances, in a sea change from Donald Trump's go-it-alone "America First" approach.
On the eve of Biden's inauguration, Blinken was set to say at his confirmation hearing that the United States will seek to remain the pre-eminent global power but renew cooperation on common challenges such as COVID-19 and climate change.
"America at its best still has a greater ability than any country on earth to mobilise others for the greater good," Blinken, a mild-mannered longtime aide to Biden, was to tell the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, according to his prepared remarks.
"We can outcompete China - and remind the world that a government of the people, by the people, can deliver for its people," Blinken said, paraphrasing Abraham Lincoln's paean to democracy two weeks after a mob of Trump supporters ransacked the Capitol in hopes of overturning Biden's victory.
The stepson of a Holocaust survivor who found refuge in the US, Blinken, 58, is known for his passion on humanitarian causes.
He is expected to win...