By William Mauldin and Michael R. Gordon 

WASHINGTON -- President-elect Joe Biden's nominee for secretary of state told a Senate panel Tuesday that China and Russia are increasingly U.S. rivals and that he hopes to pursue foreign policy with more humility and respect for U.S. diplomats than did the Trump administration.

Longtime Biden aide Antony Blinken faced senators who broadly respect his career and qualifications but have strong opinions about policy issues, including whether the Biden administration will attempt to work with China on some issues in a potential step back from the Trump administration's confrontation with Beijing.

"We can outcompete China -- and remind the world that a government of the people, by the people, can deliver for its people," Mr. Blinken told the committee in opening remarks, without elaborating on the China rivalry.

Current U.S. threats include rising nationalism, receding democracy, growing rivalry with China and Russia, and a technological revolution that is "reshaping every aspect of our lives, especially in cyberspace," Mr. Blinken said, drawing a contrast between the world that Biden aides face now and the one they saw during their tenure in the Obama administration.

Mr. Blinken said he would welcome ideas from both political parties and said under questioning by Sen. Ron Johnson (R., Wis.) that he backed some elements of the outgoing Trump administration's foreign policy. Among those policies, he said, were efforts to increase defense spending by North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies, normalize relations between Israel and Arab states, and take a tougher approach to China.

"The basic principle was the right one," Mr. Blinken said regarding China, adding that he disagreed with the methods, which included a trade war that imposed tariffs on imports and unilateral sanctions and diplomatic pressure.

"There is no doubt that [China] poses the most significant challenge of any nation-state in the world to the United States," Mr. Blinken said in response to questions from Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.).

Mr. Blinken cited human-rights issues in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, where China has drawn criticism for its policies toward the Uighur ethnic group, and he backed military and diplomatic support for Taiwan in international organizations. On Tuesday, the current secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, declared that China's actions and policies in Xinjiang with regard to the Uighur ethnic group constitute genocide.

Mr. Blinken said there also are issues where it makes sense to cooperate with Beijing. On climate change, Sen. Mitt Romney (R., Utah), said he hoped the efforts of John Kerry -- who served as former secretary of state under former President Barack Obama and is set to spearhead Mr. Biden's international climate agenda -- wouldn't trump Mr. Blinken's overall approach to Beijing.

Several senators raised the question of Iran and its nuclear ambitions and cautioned Mr. Blinken about leading a return to the 2015 nuclear deal without consulting with lawmakers, world powers and regional partners.

Mr. Blinken said Iran would represent a much greater threat if it wields nuclear weapons or gets to the threshold of nuclear weapons, and he said the Biden administration would seek to move toward a "longer and stronger" agreement with Iran. The next steps would depend on what happens with Iran, Mr. Blinken said, without elaborating on plans for engaging with Tehran.

"President Biden is committed to the proposition that Iran will not acquire a nuclear weapon," Mr. Blinken said.

Mr. Blinken, whose family includes several former diplomats, benefits from longstanding support and connections on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where he led the staff for six years. He is widely expected to be confirmed to lead the State Department soon after Mr. Biden's inauguration, aides say.

"I will work with you to reinvigorate the department by investing in its greatest asset: the foreign service officers, civil servants, and locally employed staff who animate American diplomacy around the world," Mr. Blinken said in his opening remarks.

Particularly under former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the Trump administration sought major cuts to the State Department budget and staffing, and an association of career foreign-service officers in 2017 said the department's leadership ranks were being depleted at a dizzying speed.

Mr. Blinken also was likely to be asked about WestExec Advisors, a Washington consulting firm he co-founded that touts its high-level connections.

Write to William Mauldin at william.mauldin@wsj.com and Michael R. Gordon at michael.gordon@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 19, 2021 17:52 ET (22:52 GMT)