The threat from Beijing will determine how the US military will be equipped and shaped in the future, reads the latest US defense strategy published by the Pentagon. The document says the conflict with Beijing “is neither inevitable nor desirable.” It also describes actions to prevent China’s “dominance in key regions” regarding the country’s activities in the South China Sea and its increased pressure on Taiwan. The strategy warns that “China is working to undermine US alliances in the Indo-Pacific region and is using its growing army to coerce and threaten its neighbors.” At the same time, an 80-page open report indicates that Moscow also poses a serious threat to the US and its allies in the field of nuclear weapons, cyber operations and long-range missiles. And he warns that “as China and Russia continue to develop as partners, they now pose more dangerous challenges to the country’s security and security, even as terrorist threats persist.” China “is the only competitor with both the intent to transform the international order and the ever greater force to do so,” US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told the Pentagon. “Unlike China, Russia cannot systemically challenge the United States in the long run. But Russian aggression poses a direct and acute threat to our interests and values. ” The report shows that for the first time the United States is facing two major nuclear-armed competitors – Russia and China. The strategy, along with two other reports on missile defense and nuclear weapons, is a comprehensive agenda for US military planning for the next four years. The previous strategy, published in 2018 by then-President Donald Trump, reflected a fundamental shift in the US military focused on countering extremists to one that must prepare for a war with the major power. The present is an expansion of it and increases the focus on allies as a key element of US defense, highlighting the Biden administration’s wider efforts to repair relations with partner countries that have been strained by Trump. At the heart of the new document is the concept of “integrated deterrence”, meaning the US will use a wide combination of military force, economic and diplomatic pressure, and strong alliances – including the US nuclear arsenal – to dissuade the enemy from attacking. The document’s conclusion is that China remains “the most important strategic competitor for the coming decades”, while Russia remains a “acute” threat. The new review calls for increased research and development in cutting-edge technologies: hypersonic and cybernetic, artificial intelligence and targeted energy. But America is also facing a new environment in which its decades-long approach to avoiding nuclear war is changing. Russia has repeatedly threatened to use “tactical” nuclear weapons of lower efficiency in Ukraine. And Russia’s failures in Ukraine could make it rely more on its nuclear forces. The report also notes the rapid progress of China and Russia on hypersonic missiles, which are more difficult to detect by the US. These countries are also improving their ability to shoot down satellites or throw them out of orbit. The United States is addressing these threats by building a ring of low-orbit satellites to accelerate the detection of hypersonic take-offs, and to build a system to ensure that if one of the American satellites is attacked, the remainder of the ring will continue to function. Associated Press / KR
