Pentagon’s new defense strategy strikes conciliatory tone on China
The blueprint says the U.S. will focus attention on the Western Hemisphere while reducing its military role in Europe, South Korea and the Middle East.
The Pentagon stuck a conciliatory tone toward Beijing in its new defense strategy, stating that its overarching goal is to establish “strategic stability" in the Indo-Pacific region and de–escalate tensions with the Chinese military.
The national defense strategy, which was issued Friday night, comes as President Trump is preparing for an expected summit meeting in April with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and as the White House has sought to lower tensions over Taiwan.
The Pentagon document also underscores that U.S. pre-eminence in the Western Hemisphere is a priority and signals that the Trump administration’s longer-term goal is to reduce its military role in Europe, the Korean peninsula and the Middle East.
“As U.S. forces focus on Homeland defense and the Indo-Pacific, our allies and partners elsewhere will take primary responsibility for their own defense with critical but more limited support from American forces," it states.
The Pentagon’s strategy in 2018, issued during Trump’s first term in the White House, described China in far-harsher terms. It cast China then as a “revisionist" power that along with Russia was seeking “veto authority over other nations’ economic, diplomatic and security decisions."
In contrast, the Pentagon’s new strategy document underscores the administration’s interest in opening more military-to-military communications with the Chinese military and reducing tensions to establish a balance of power in the Indo-Pacific. The goal would be to establish “a decent peace, on terms favorable to Americans but that China can also accept and live under."
The document, which was reviewed by the White House, was released a day after Trump praised Xi for helping to negotiate a deal to enable TikTok to keep operating in the U.S. The document comes in the midst of a general dialing-down of tensions in advance of the meeting between the two leaders, which the White House hopes might lead to more economic cooperation.
The national defense strategy is issued every four years and is intended to build decisions on deploying forces and fielding new weapons. Many of its themes were spelled out in December, when the White House released the national-security strategy, which sharply criticized European leaders and underscored Trump’s focus on the Western Hemisphere and the Pacific.
The Pentagon strategy doesn’t mention Taiwan, the democratically governed island that China claims as its territory, by name. But it states that the U.S. military will “erect a strong denial defense along the First Island Chain," a string of islands that includes Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines.
Unlike President Joe Biden, Trump hasn’t said whether he would use force to defend Taiwan. But the Trump administration has approved an $11 billion arms package for Taiwan, and much of the Pentagon’s spending and its quest for cutting-edge technology has been touted to try to dissuade Beijing from trying to take over the island and putting pressure on U.S. allies in the region.
Write to Michael R. Gordon at michael.gordon@wsj.com
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