WASHINGTON: The United States has unveiled a markedly tougher National Security Strategy aimed at countering China’s growing military and economic influence across the Indo-Pacific, calling the region “one of the next century’s key economic and geopolitical battlegrounds.” The Trump administration’s new framework outlines a more assertive defence posture, warning that the US must be prepared to “deny aggression anywhere in the First Island Chain.” The strategy argues that decades of US engagement with Beijing were built on “mistaken American assumptions about China,” asserting that successive administrations “enabled” China’s rise at the expense of American workers and industries. It lists a series of Chinese practices the US intends to confront, including state-driven industrial subsidies, unfair trade behaviours, large-scale intellectual property theft, and coercive economic tactics. The document also highlights vulnerabilities in key supply chains—particularly rare earth minerals—and points to China’s export of fentanyl precursors contributing to the ongoing opioid crisis in the US. Taiwan features prominently in the new strategy, described as a critical node providing access to the Second Island Chain and dividing Northeast and Southeast Asia into distinct theatres. Reaffirming its long-standing policy, Washington emphasises that it does not support “any unilateral change to the status quo” in the Taiwan Strait. The strategy warns that Chinese control of the South China Sea would give Beijing the ability to impose “toll systems” or even shut down vital shipping routes, through which one-third of global maritime trade passes. To maintain deterrence, the administration calls for preserving “a military balance favourable to the United States and to our allies,” backed by deeper investment in high-end defence capabilities such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, autonomous systems, and advanced energy technologies. US allies are urged to take on greater responsibility by expanding defence spending, enhancing interoperability, and granting additional access to US forces. India is identified as a central partner in this strategic landscape, with Washington signalling its intent to strengthen commercial and security ties—including through the Quad—to bolster Indo-Pacific stability. The strategy’s release comes amid intensifying US-China competition in technology, trade, and maritime security. By formalising its more rigid posture, the Trump administration underscores its view of China as the primary pacing challenge shaping regional geopolitics for decades to come. (IANS)
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