US Defense Minister Lloyd Austin on Wednesday called the Pentagon to order on China, arguing that the latter had not yet translated into action its stated efforts to counter the rise of Beijing, which the States- United see them as their number one strategic adversary.
” At work! Austin said, announcing new efforts to change the direction of the enormous bureaucratic machine that is the Pentagon, so that it is able to confront a modern army after 20 years of anti-jihadist operations in the Middle. East, facing agile but under-equipped opponents.
The US defense strategy published in 2018 already identified China as one of the main threats to be countered for the United States. But for three years, not much has been done to implement this principle, according to the conclusions of a task force set up in February by President Joe Biden to face Beijing more vigorously.
The task force found “a gap between words and deeds, in terms of the priority shown to China and what we have seen in a number of areas in terms of resources and decisions,” he told the press a senior official of the Ministry of Defense who requested anonymity.
“The national defense strategy of 2018 was crucial (…) but with today’s directive, it is a question of ensuring that the Ministry of Defense responds to this priority”, he said. added.
At a time when China is showing itself more and more aggressive towards Taiwan, which it considers an integral part of its territory, the US military is seeking to strengthen its presence in the Pacific.
But at the same time, it remains very present in the Middle East, despite the ongoing withdrawal of the 2,500 American soldiers still deployed in early May in Afghanistan, which sometimes leads to tensions between the military commands of the Middle East (Centcom) and the Indo-Pacific region (Indopacom).
To ensure that priorities are accorded in accordance with US national strategy, Lloyd Austin has decided to oversee the implementation of the task force’s advice himself, on which the Pentagon remains very discreet for the moment.
“The efforts I am ordering today will enable the ministry to revitalize our network of allies and partners, strengthen deterrence, accelerate the development of new operational concepts, emerging capabilities and a new deployment of our forces ”, simply indicated the Minister of Defense, quoted in a press release.
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