Despite the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and nuclear threats from Moscow, the US sees China as the greater geopolitical challenge. “Beijing wants to expand its sphere of influence in the Indo-Pacific region and become the world’s leading power,” says the new national security strategy released by the US government on Wednesday in Washington.
“The People’s Republic of China is the only competitor that not only has the intention to transform the international order, but also has the economic, diplomatic, military and technological might to do so.” In the competition with China, the next ten years are “clearly the decisive decade”.
Since his inauguration, the government of US President Joe Biden has focused on China in terms of foreign policy and has taken a tough stance on Beijing. Russia’s attack on Ukraine has pushed this somewhat into the background. The paper said the goal was to compete effectively with China while keeping “a dangerous Russia” in check.
Referring to Moscow, the US government wrote in the new strategy: “Over the past ten years, the Russian government has opted for an imperialist foreign policy aimed at overthrowing important elements of the international order.” This culminated in the invasion of Ukraine.
futile efforts
“The United States has made multiple efforts under various administrations to shake hands with Russia to limit our rivalry and find pragmatic areas of cooperation. President Putin has rebuffed these efforts, and it is now clear that he will not change “, it said further. “Russia now poses an immediate and ongoing threat to international peace and stability.”
China and Russia are the only countries to have their own chapters in the 48-page paper. Otherwise, there is a rough outline of how the USA wants to position itself internationally. Among other things, the US government emphasizes the general approach of strengthening international coalitions, but also of cooperating wherever possible with opponents such as Russia and China in order to tackle global challenges that cannot be solved otherwise – such as the climate crisis, food security or pandemics.
Biden’s National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, acknowledged that’s not always easy: “Of course there are tensions between trying to advance cooperation to solve these common challenges and trying to position ourselves effectively to compete strategically. “
The US government is also focusing on dissolving the dividing line between domestic and foreign policy, because one’s own strength at home and abroad is “inextricably linked”. In order to master global challenges, the USA would have to strengthen its competitiveness through investments at home. It is also important to modernize the US military so that it is prepared for the “era of strategic competition”.
