US Defence Strategy brands China as greatest security challenge & Russia as 'acute threat'

United States Department of Defense (DoD) on October 27 released the unclassified National Defense Strategy (NDS), a Congressionally-mandated review aimed at deterrence of the People's Republic of China, Russia Iran, and North Korea. The two documents of the National Defense Strategy consisted of Nuclear Posture Review and the Missile Defense Review and were released separately.

In its National Defense Strategy (NDS), the United States labeled China as posing the most consequential and systemic challenge on the globe, while describing Russia as an acute threat. The 2022 National Defense Strategy (NDS) documents realign the United States' strategic and military goals that were first unveiled in 2018, stating that the “inter-state strategic competition, not terrorism, is now the primary concern in US national security.”  The 2022 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) prioritizes the modernization of the US’ massive nuclear, and lists that the primary strategy of the United States is “to be able to deter conventional aggression that has the potential to escalate to nuclear employment of any scale.”  

According to US Defense Secretary, Austin Lloyd, 2022 US Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) reaffirms that as long as nuclear weapons exist, the fundamental role of US nuclear weapons is to deter nuclear attacks on the United States, its allies, and its partners.

Credit: AP

"We are living in a 'decisive decade,' one stamped by dramatic changes in geopolitics, technology, economics, and our environment. The defense strategy that the United States pursues will set the Department’s course for decades to come," said US President Joe Biden. 

People’s Republic of China (PRC) a 'serious challenge to US national security': NDS document

The new strategies focus on strengthening the US Department of Defense's readiness to act urgently to sustain and strengthen military deterrence, with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the "pacing challenge". The NDS document outlines that the US military will aim at building a resilient Joint Force and defense ecosystem for deterring aggression, while also being prepared to prevail in conflict when necessary. It prioritises the PRC's challenges in the Indo-Pacific region and the Russian threat in Europe.

"Now and over the next two decades, we [US] face strategic challenges stemming from complex interactions between a rapidly changing global balance of military capabilities; emerging technologies; competitor doctrines that pose new threats to the US and to strategic stability," read the newly released NDS on Thursday.  The NDS derided the "coercive and malign activities" of China that pose the transboundary challenges that impose new demands on the Joint Force and the defense enterprise of the United States. 

Aircraft of the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) conduct a joint combat training exercises around the Taiwan Island. Credit: AP

The PRC seeks to undermine US alliances and security partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region, the new NDS of 2022 unveiled. China has been using its leverage to bolster military capabilities, including its economic influence, and the PLA's growing strength and military footprint have been coercing its neighbors and threatening their interests, it warned. 

"PRC's increasingly provocative rhetoric and coercive activity towards Taiwan are destabilizing, risk miscalculation, and threaten the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait," read the NDS.

"This is part of a broader pattern of destabilizing and coercive PRC behavior that stretches across the East China Sea, the South China Sea, and along the Line of Actual Control."

Russia 'an acute threat'

The 2022 NDS underscores the acute threat posed by Russia as it wages war in neighbouring Ukraine, compromising broader European security. The government in Russia seeks to use force to impose border changes and to reimpose an imperial sphere of influence, states the Pentagon, listing Moscow's "extensive track record" of territorial aggression including the escalation of its brutal, unprovoked war against Ukraine. The Kremlin, it stated, has deployed political and military means to fracture NATO. "Russia presents serious, continuing risks in key areas," the 2022 NDS of the US states. The 2018 and 2019 documents described Moscow as the “revitalised malign actor” and a  “marginal player."

Credit: AP

North Korea & Iran pose security challenges

National Defense Strategy (NDS) 2022 released Thursday focused on North Korea's expansion of its nuclear and missile capabilities that threaten the United States armed forces, the Republic of Korea (ROK), and Japan. Iran was accused of attempting to expand its nuclear weapons program, building an extensive missile force, uncrewed aircraft systems, and advanced maritime capabilities that threaten chokepoints for the free flow of energy resources and international commerce.

Tehran undermines Middle East stability by supporting terrorist groups and military proxies, employing its own paramilitary forces, engaging in military provocations, and conducting malicious cyber and information operations, the NDS 2022 stated, labelling it as VEO. Global terrorist groups, including al-Qa'ida, Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and their affiliates – have had their capabilities degraded, were able to reconstitute in short order, and will require monitoring.