US think tank wants pentagon to 'make China explicit priority' in NDS

While the tensions between the US and China are escalating, an American think tank has suggested that Pentagon should ‘explicitly prioritise’ the Asian superpower to prepare a new National Defense Strategy (NDS) this winter. Suggesting an official shift of Washington to developments and threats made by Beijing, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) said in a report published on July 27 that China’s questionable actions during the past several years have increased the recognition of US being in a competition. Therefore, a new NDS will only continue to put a focus on China first. 

What CNAS report denoted as the “bottom line” is that the new NDS is an opportunity of the Secretary of Defence in January 2021 to basically achieve three motives. These include further deepen and ‘explicitly’ state the current NDS’ ‘sound prioritization’ of China, the establishment of clear benchmarks and “explicit details of implementation for both capability investments and posture enhancements” and identification of areas of opportunity to not only deal with ‘gray zone’ but also expand cooperation with new partners. 

Read - US-China Spats Rattle World, Prompting Calls For Unity

Read - Head Of China CDC Gets Injected With Experimental Vaccine

NDS in January 2018 was ‘first signal’

According to the report, US Defense Secretary James N. Mattis had signed the NDS back in January 2018 that was the ‘first time signalling’ that the senior Pentagon officials are finally adopted the logic that China “should be the organising principle for the building”. Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery Retd, an Executive Director at the US Cyberspace Solarium Commission and an earlier Director for Operations at US Indo-Pacific Command, and Eric Sayers, an Adjunct Senior at CNAS, said in the report that the bipartisan support for NDS 2018 was an ‘encouraging sign’. 

Read - Chinese Scientist Charged With Visa Fraud In U.S Appears In Court Amid Strained Ties

“The previous NDS determined that the “central challenge to US prosperity and security is the re-emergence of long-term, strategic competition” and concluded that “long-term strategic competitions with China and Russia are the principal priorities for the Department”. While both powers are indeed revisionist and pose considerable risk to US interests, the magnitude of the challenge posed by a China with the world’s second-largest economy far exceeds that of Russia,” the think tank further said.

Read - 'Biggest Human Rights Abuse is Using Human Rights As Excuse To Repress Huawei': China

Read - China Admits India's Ban On 59 Apps 'severely Damaged Interests' Of Chinese Companies