According to a new US defence strategy unveiled over the weekend, the US will strengthen its significant defence alliance with India to increase its capacity to thwart Chinese aggression and guarantee unrestricted access to the Indian Ocean region.
In his introduction to the US National Defence Strategy 2022, US Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin stated that “The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is our most significant strategic competitor for the future decades.”
This announcement comes in the wake of the US National Security Strategy 2022, which identified China as the country’s top global adversary.
To counter China’s purported efforts to “assert control over its disputed land borders” with India, the defence strategy pledges to cooperate with New Delhi and is more specific about India’s role in controlling China.
According to the new policy, China is “the only country with both the intent to remake the international order, and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to do so,” according to US President Joe Biden.
In his message, Secretary Austin also makes reference to Russia, stating that the US will continue to work with its partners and friends in NATO to “reinforce muscular deterrence in the face of Russian aggression” in Ukraine.
The strategy notes that while China “poses serious challenge,” recent developments have “underlined the grave threat posed by Russia,” as well. According to the strategy, Russia “seeks to use force to compel border adjustments and to reimpose an imperial sphere of influence” and is “contemptuous of its neighbours’ independence.”
The US national defence plan cautions that “Russia provides severe, ongoing risks in key areas, including nuclear and long-range missile threats.” The article also highlights “massive grey zone campaigns focused against democracies in particular; cyber and information operations; counterspace threats; chemical and biological weapons (CBW); undersea warfare.”
According to the document, China and Russia’s relationship is continuing to grow in scope, and “any state could aim to create global challenges… in the case of US intervention in a crisis or a conflict.”
The US military’s response to escalating threats to its vital interests is outlined in the 2022 defence policy, which also instructs the Department of Defense to “act promptly to sustain and expand US deterrence, with China as its key challenge.”
The document emphasises the necessity of continuing its “by, with, and through” strategy in Iraq and Syria as well as “right-sizing forward military presence in the Middle East following the mission transition in Afghanistan.”
“Deny Iran a nuclear weapon and to identify and support action against Iranian and Iranian-backed threats,” the policy promises.
In the US’s efforts to dismantle high-level violent extremist organisations (VEO) that threaten the homeland and crucial US national interests, Iran is also brought up.
To “deter and defend against potential Iranian aggression,” the Pentagon promises to give collaboration with US regional and international allies first priority.
