Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi / Bloomberg
Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi / Bloomberg
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The Trump administration has released its strategy to ensure continued dominance over China, which aims to accelerate India’s rise to counter Beijing and its ability to defend Taiwan against attack.
National security adviser Robert O’Brien made the publication of the document entitled “United States Strategic framework for the Indo-Pacific. Approved by President Donald Trump in February 2018, it provided the “overarching strategic guidance” for US actions over the past three years and was released to demonstrate US commitment to “keep the Indo-Pacific region free and open far and wide. in the future, “O’Brien said in a statement.
“Beijing is exerting increasing pressure on the Indo-Pacific countries to subordinate their freedom and sovereignty to a ‘common destiny’ envisioned by the Chinese Communist Party,” O’Brien said in a comprehensive statement. statement. “The American approach is different. We seek to ensure that our allies and partners – all who share the values and ambitions of a free and open Indo-Pacific – can maintain and protect their sovereignty. “
The document outlines a vision for the region in which North Korea is no longer a threat, India dominates South Asia and the US is working with partners around the world to oppose Chinese activities to undermine sovereignty through coercion. It assumed China would take “increasingly assertive” steps to enforce unification with Taiwan and warned that its dominance of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence “will pose major challenges for free societies.”
China said the report had “sensationalized ‘China threat theory’ and showed that the US had” gone against its own promise on the issue of Taiwan. “
“The content only proves the malicious motives of the US to contain China and sabotage regional peace and stability,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a briefing on Wednesday. “We need to make Asia-Pacific a stage for China and the US to strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation. It should not become an arena where a zero-sum game takes place. “
Where a collision between the US and China can occur in the South China Sea
While the timing of the release, just a week before President-elect Joe Biden takes office, raises questions about the motive, the Trump administration’s actions to counter China in Asia have largely enjoyed two-pronged support. Upcoming Biden officials have spoken of the need to work more closely with allies and partners against China, which is also an important part of the strategy – particularly in strengthening security ties with Australia, Japan and India.
Rory Medcalf, a professor and head of the National Security College at the Australian National University, said the document shows that US policy in Asia was driven by efforts to “strengthen allies and counteract China.” But he noted that the strategy was so ambitious that “failure was almost assured” on issues such as the disarmament of North Korea, maintaining “primacy” in the region, and building international consensus against harmful Chinese economic practices.
“The released framework will have lasting value as the beginning of a government-wide blueprint for dealing with strategic rivalry with China,” Medcalf wrote in a statement. post for the research group of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. “If the US is serious about that long-term competition, they will not be able to choose between putting their home in order and projecting power into the Indo-Pacific. It will have to do both at the same time. “
The main highlights of the report are:
China
- Assumes that China “wants to dissolve the US alliances and partnerships in the region. China will exploit vacuum and opportunities created by these diminished bonds. “
- “China is trying to dominate the very latest technologies, including artificial intelligence and biogenetics, and put them at the service of authoritarianism. The Chinese dominance in these technologies would pose a major challenge to free societies. “
- “China will take increasingly assertive steps to enforce unification with Taiwan.”
- Act to “counter Chinese predatory economic practices that freeze foreign competition, undermine US economic competitiveness, and support the Chinese Communist Party’s drive to dominate the 21st century economy.”
- “Build an international consensus that China’s industrial policies and unfair trade practices are harmful to the global trading system.”
- “Work closely with allies and like-minded countries to prevent China’s acquisition of military and strategic capabilities.”
India
- Desired result: “India’s preferred partner on security issues is the United States. The two are working together to maintain maritime security and counter Chinese influence in South and Southeast Asia and other regions of mutual interest. “
- “India remains at the forefront of South Asia and is at the forefront of maintaining security in the Indian Ocean.”
- “Accelerate India’s emergence and ability to serve as a network security provider and key defense partner; Strengthen a lasting strategic partnership with India, supported by a strong Indian army. “
- “Strengthen the capacity of emerging partners in South Asia, including the Maldives, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, to contribute to a free and open order.”
Taiwan
- “Devise and implement a defense strategy that is capable of, but not limited to: (1) denying China that China’s continued air and sea dominance within the“ first chain of islands ”remains in conflict; (2) defending the countries of the first chain of islands, including · Taiwan; and (3) dominates all domains outside the first chain of islands. “
- “Enable Taiwan to develop an effective asymmetric defense strategy and capabilities that safeguard its security, freedom from coercion, resilience and the ability to engage China on its own terms.”
North Korea:
- Objective: “To convince Kim’s regime that the only way to survive is to give up his nuclear weapons.”
- Maximize pressure on Pyongyang by using economic, diplomatic, military, law enforcement, intelligence and information tools to paralyze North Korean weapons of mass destruction programs, stifle currency flows, weaken the regime and set the conditions for negotiations aimed at reversing missile programs, ultimately achieving the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the peninsula.
- Do this by: (1) helping South Korea and Japan acquire advanced conventional military capabilities; (2) Bringing South Korea and Japan closer together. “
South East Asia
- Objective: “To promote and strengthen the central role of Southeast Asia and ASEAN in the security architecture of the region, and to encourage them to speak with one voice on important issues.”
- “Promote an integrated economic development model in the Indo-Pacific that provides a credible alternative to One Belt One Road; create a working group on how best to use public-private partnerships. “
– With the assistance of Philip Heijmans, Iain Marlow and Jing Li
(Updates with China’s response from the fifth paragraph.)