The United States Defense Department has said that the department will advance the country's defense partnership with India to enhance its ability to deter "China's aggression and ensure free and open access to the Indian Ocean region."
Releasing its National Defense Strategy (NDS) on its official website on Thursday, the US Defense Department stated that the department will reinforce and build out a resilient security architecture in the Indo-Pacific region in order to sustain a free and open regional order, and deter attempts to resolve disputes by force.
"We will modernize our Alliance with Japan and strengthen combined capabilities by aligning strategic planning and priorities in a more integrated manner; deepen our Alliance with Australia through investments in posture, interoperability, and expansion of multilateral cooperation; and foster advantage through advanced technology cooperation with partnerships like AUKUS and the Indo-Pacific Quad," read the unclassified strategy.
In its strategy, the US Defense Department said that the department will support Taiwan's asymmetric self-defense commensurate with the evolving China threat and consistent with the country's one China policy.
The strategy comes at a time when Washington and Beijing are at odds over a host of global geo-strategic issues including Taiwan and Ukraine.
Over the years, the US has been seeking to strengthen its alliance and partnership with various countries in the Indo- Pacific, mainly those within the orbit of China, as disputes linger between the two countries on issues of trade and the South China Sea.
Earlier in 2017, the then Trump Administration of the US, had brought the Indo Pacific Strategy (IPS), primarily to contain China militarily in the Indo Pacific region. The US said that it was seeking to expand defense partnership with India, Nepal and other countries in the region. In response to the IPS, China employed various counter-strategies in the Indo Pacific region. China views the US Indo-Pacific strategy as a geostrategic measure to contain China.
In the National Defense Strategy unveiled on Thursday, the Biden administration has mostly reiterated the Trump administration's China-containment strategies that sought to build stronger partnership with countries in the Indian Ocean.
"We will work with the ROK (Republic of Korea) to continue to improve its defense capability to lead the Alliance combined defense, with U.S. forces augmenting those of the ROK. We will invigorate multilateral approaches to security challenges in the region, to include by promoting the role of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in addressing regional security issues. The Department will work with Allies and partners to ensure power projection in a contested environment," read the strategy.
The department said that "it will also support ally and partner efforts, in accordance with U.S. policy and international law, to address acute forms of gray zone coercion from China's campaigns to establish control over the East China Sea, Taiwan Strait, South China Sea, and disputed land borders such as with India."
At the same time, the department will continue to prioritize maintaining open lines of communication with the PLA (People's Liberation Army) and managing competition responsibly.
Apart from the National Defense Strategy (NDS), the US Defense Department also released Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), and Missile Defense Review (MDR) on Thursday.
This is for the first time in its history the department conducted all major strategic reviews in an integrated way, aligned with the National Security Strategy, according to a release issued by US Department of Defense.
The 2022 NDS has set the department’s strategic direction and priorities for the Joint Force, identifying how the U.S. military will meet growing threats to U.S. national security interests and to a stable and open international system.
The 2022 National Defense Strategy has identified four top-level defense priorities that the department must pursue to strengthen deterrence:
-Defending the homeland, paced to the growing multi-domain threat posed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC)
-Deterring strategic attacks against the United States, Allies, and partners;
-Deterring aggression, while being prepared to prevail in conflict when necessary – prioritizing the PRC challenge in the Indo-Pacific region, then the Russia challenge in Europe, and;
-Building a resilient Joint Force and defense ecosystem.
The 2022 NDS has also identified three ways in which the department will achieve its priorities – integrated deterrence, campaigning, and building enduring advantage, according to the website.
The 2022 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) has reaffirmed that as long as nuclear weapons exist, the fundamental role of U.S. nuclear weapons is to deter nuclear attack on the United States, its allies, and its partners.
"The United States would only consider the use of nuclear weapons in extreme circumstances to defend the vital interests of the United States or its allies and partners. The NPR takes a comprehensive and balanced approach to defending vital national security interests and reducing nuclear risks while affirming a continuing commitment to a safe, secure, and effective nuclear deterrent and strong and credible extended deterrence," read the release issued by US Defense Department.
The 2022 Missile Defense Review of the department has underscored that missile defense contributes to integrated deterrence by undermining a potential foe’s confidence in its ability to mount a successful attack.
