The Pentagon’s new strategic guidance, “Sustaining US Global Leadership: Priorities for 21st
Century Defence”, released last week places China squarely at the
centre of American war planning. It formalises the shift in American
foreign and military policy from the Middle East to Asia that has been
underway since President Obama took office.
“US economic
and security interests,” the document declares, “are inextricably
linked to developments in the arc extending from the Western Pacific and
East Asia into the Indian Ocean and South” signifying that “we will of
necessity rebalance toward the Asia Pacific region.” It calls for an
expansion of the network of US military alliances and partnerships,
specifically naming India as “a regional economic anchor and provider of
security in the broader Indian Ocean region.”
China is
the only country named as a threat to American interests, with a call
for “greater clarity of its strategic intentions in order to avoid
causing friction in the region.” The document declares that the US in
conjunction with its allies will “protect freedom of access throughout
the global commons.” Under the rubric of “freedom of navigation”, the US
has already greatly heightened tensions in the South China Sea by
challenging China’s maritime claims in these strategic waters.
The
Pentagon’s military reorientation to Asia goes hand-in-hand with an
aggressive US diplomatic offensive to undercut growing Chinese economic
and political influence throughout Asia and internationally. Powerful
sections of the US political and foreign policy establishment backed
Obama for the presidency in 2008 out of deep concern that China had
gained while the US was mired in the Bush administration’s wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan.
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