On Wednesday, Oct. 12, the U.S. side said the U.S. prioritized overtaking China, which it considers its sole global rival, while working to contain a “dangerous” Russia.
On Wednesday, the White House laid out a long-awaited national security strategy aimed at containing China’s rise, while reiterating the importance of working with allies to address the challenges facing democracies.
The publication of the 48-page document has been delayed because of Russia’s war in Ukraine. There are no major shifts in political doctrine or any new theories about Biden’s foreign policy.
In the strategy, the White House declared that the 2020s would be “a defining decade for America and the world” to reduce conflict and address major shared threats such as climate change.
“The most pressing strategic challenge to our vision arises from the forces of authoritarian rule combined with revisionist foreign policy,” the document said.
China’s biggest challenge
The document also notes that even after Russia’s war on Ukraine, China remains what the United States sees as the most important challenge to the world order.
The strategy also said, “We will prioritize maintaining our permanent competitive advantage over China while containing Russia, which is still very dangerous.”
The document also said that Russia under President Vladimir Putin “poses a direct threat to a free and open international order. And today is brazenly violating the fundamental laws of the international system, with its brutal war of aggression against Ukraine being the The best proof.”
The U.S. believes that “China, on the other hand, is its only competitor in reshaping the international order, and the country increasingly possesses the economic, diplomatic, military and technological capabilities in this regard.”
While Beijing has repeatedly denied claims of seeking hegemony, the U.S. strategy document argues that China “has ambitions to try to establish a larger sphere of influence in the Indo-Pacific region and become the world‘s leading power.”
The White House also linked China’s rise to Biden’s commitment to prioritizing the U.S. middle class, saying Beijing was working to make the world depend on its economy while restricting access to its market of more than a billion consumers.
America is the backbone
The document confirms the White House’s view that U.S. leadership is the cornerstone of overcoming global threats such as climate change and the rise of authoritarian regimes.
It also said that if the United States wants to continue to exert influence on the world stage, it must win the economic arms race with the great powers.
The strategy calls for a “more integrated Middle East” against the backdrop of a reconciliation between Israel and the Gulf Arab states. Because in the long run, it will reduce the “resource requirements” of the United States that have protected oil producers for decades.
“I don’t think the Ukraine war has fundamentally changed Joe Biden’s approach to foreign policy, which he championed long before he became president,” said White House national security adviser Jack Sullivan.
“But I think the document illustrates the core elements of our policy approach, which is the importance of valuing allies, strengthening the democratic world, and defending friendly democracies and democratic values,” he told reporters.
global system
Sullivan said that China is increasingly capable of reshaping the global order and tilting the global stage in its favor, “but the United States remains responsible for managing the competition between our two countries.”
Sullivan also said the United States must manage its relationship with China while addressing a range of transitional challenges affecting people around the world, including climate change, food threats, infectious diseases, terrorism, energy transportation and inflation.
For the most part, the strategy is in line with the interim guidelines set by Biden shortly after taking office in January 2021. Although the United States has spent most of 2022 committed to rallying its allies against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and supplying the latter with billions of dollars’ worth of weapons.