The former State Department official said the CCP has based its legitimacy and survival on abusing the liberal international order.
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.
In 2020, Wong condemned the Chinese regime, saying it was in “flagrant violation of its obligations” by helping North Korea evade the United Nations’ trade embargoes.
He was also a member of the Congress-appointed U.S.–China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC). He contributed to the commission’s annual report to Congress as a commissioner in 2021, chairman in 2022, and vice-chairman in 2023.
In response to Wong’s appointment, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.), the incoming national security adviser, said he’s “thrilled” on social media platform X. The congressman applauded Wong’s “proven record of delivering results” during Trump’s first term and said Wong will “have an essential role in helping keep America safe.”
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.
By Lily Zhou
