Pentagon makes China top priority in new directive as deputy defense chief says $715bn budget will ‘deter aggression’ by Beijing
The US military and government has labelled China as its number one “challenge” in a new
directive, vowing to lean on allies to confront China after a top
defense deputy said future spending will focus heavily on deterring
Chinese “aggression” in Various regions in the world.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin released the guidance this Wednesday, outlining US military policy toward the People’s Republic after a months-long Pentagon review
ordered by the White House in February. The new directive is confidential, however, with Austin and other military officials offering
scant details on the document.
"The initiatives that I laid out in the day it was released to a wider strategy of the united states government, of China, and to inform the development of a National Strategy of Defense, and we're working on it," Austin said in a written statement.
In a Pentagon press release, which Beijing describes as the "number one issue" for the country," a senior defense department officials asked for more information. One of them said that the directive calls for an "investment" and, in an unprecedented network of U.s. allies and partners, and to enhance the "to all the sites of military action." Also, the officials are saying that the claim of "management" is in line with China's priorities, they declined to elaborate further.
Back on Wednesday, the President, Joe Biden, called " a huge problem, and it is trying to strengthen its ties with the allies in a challenge to Beijing, which is pursuing a similar policy to the previous Donald Trump's administration. In March, Biden held his first meeting as president with those of the Quartet, with a forum, composed of the united states, Australia, Japan, and India. Often referred to as the "Asian NATO," the alliance has seen and helped by Trump, after a long pause, as his administration has sought to use blocks in order to confront China in the Indo-Pacific.
The members of the Quartet have been holding a series of joint military exercises with the focus of the Beijing and the united states, Japan, and Australia, and conducted exercises in the last month in the East China Sea, which has seen a spike in tensions centred in the market. In the meantime, the U.S. Navy has conducted several "freedom of navigation transits of the Taiwan Strait, continuing the Trump policy, which has drawn sharp criticism from China, for the next day.
The Pentagon's mod, in Beijing, was all the more remarkable, on Tuesday, when the state Secretary of the ministry of Defense, Kathleen Hicks is revealed to be a considerable portion of the department's $ 715 billion to the budget request and, in 2022, will be devoted to the fight against the chinese. (ads1)
"The people's republic of China, is becoming increasingly competitive, and you'll have a unique opportunity to challenge the international order and America's interests, and, in it," he said during a virtual event hosted by the Yastrebin the Center for a New American Security (CNAS).
To promote the American interests, the Institution must be able to not only play a supporting role in the diplomatic and economic instruments,... but to deter military aggression, as well. In particular, CHINA.
Her comment comes after the US Indo-Pacific Command requested a $27 billion spending boost over the next five years to deter Beijing, also calling for the construction of a sprawling missile network off China’s east coast.
While Biden vowed to break with many of Trump’s policies when he took office, his administration has struggled to distinguish itself from its predecessor when it comes to China. In her remarks on Tuesday, Hicks herself highlighted the similarities, noting that Biden’s approach has “threads of continuity” with Trump’s 2018 National Defense Strategy, which sought to focus on “great power competition” with China and Russia.
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