FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
From George Washington's farewell speech to current President Joe Biden's national security strategy, the major national interest of the US has not fundamentally changed: it aims to guarantee the basic security of the homeland and its people in freedom.
As Alexander Hamilton once said, "Self-preservation is the first duty of a nation." But vital US interests are increasingly threatened by China, and can be grouped into 5 categories:
1. To prevent the use and reduction of the threat of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons and catastrophic conventional terrorist attacks or cyber attacks against the United States, its military forces abroad, or its allies.
China's growing intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and nuclear capabilities pose a threat to the US homeland and its forces abroad. China plans to increase its stockpile of strategic nuclear weapons, from about 500 in 2022, to 1,500 by 2035.
This increase will be accompanied by the expansion of the infrastructure for the production and separation of plutonium. Beijing is reportedly building 300 new missile launch silos in the country's western desert. So a 10-fold increase in their number in 2022, in addition to an arsenal of about 100 mobile ICBM missile launchers.
2. To prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons, provide nuclear weapons and materials to reduce the further proliferation of delivery systems for intermediate- and long-range nuclear weapons.
Beijing continues to allow its state-owned companies to violate the Missile Technology Control Regime (MCTR) and "proliferate technology that Iran has used to improve the accuracy, range and lethality of its ballistic missiles." At the same time, Beijing
has undermined sanctions against Tehran, significantly increasing its economic support for the Islamic Republic.
China has remained the Islamic Republic's main trading partner, and trade between the two countries is over $15 billion a year. If Iran manages to acquire a nuclear weapon, Beijing will bear a great responsibility due to its economic and technical assistance.
Beijing has also tolerated its citizens and corporations to violate the MTCR vis-à-vis North Korea, despite China's stated intention to find a peaceful solution to Pyongyang's nuclear program.
3. To maintain a global and regional balance of power that promotes peace, stability and freedom through domestic stability, influence on the international stage and the strength of alliance systems.
Beijing has launched an all-out assault on the military, economic and diplomatic balance of power in Asia, and on the US system of alliances in the region. China's military modernization, enabled by an unprecedented increase in defense spending, has laid the foundation for this rapid change.
The modernization of the People's Liberation Army includes a new command and control structure, improved equipment for the navy, air force and army, the expansion and improvement of cadet training and the creation of the Strategic Support Force to centralize capabilities.
In addition to adding to its nuclear arsenal, Beijing now boasts the world's largest navy, as well as the largest inventory of ballistic and cruise missiles. Economically, China has pursued two strategies to undermine the US position in the Indo-Pacific.
First, Beijing threatens and forces America's partners in Asia to pursue policies favorable to Chinese regional dominance. Second, the People's Republic has created and now promotes international economic organizations and initiatives that exclude the United States, privilege China's position, and undermine global rules and standards.
Meanwhile, China has tried to expand its leadership in international governing institutions and weaken the influence of the US. Beijing has become more assertive and active at the UN, attacking democratic norms, including the rule of law, human rights, transparency and accountability.
4. To prevent the emergence of hostile powers or failed states in the Western Hemisphere.
Beijing has successfully sought to deepen its strategic alliances with Latin American countries, increasingly at the expense of the United States. China is today the main trading partner of South America, and the second largest for Latin America as a whole, after the United States.
This is an important step for a country that in 2000 accounted for less than 2 percent of Latin American exports. China has built ports, railways and dams, installed 5G networks across Latin America, and lent $138 billion to countries in the region.
5. To ensure the sustainability and stability of the main international systems (trade, financial markets, public health, energy supplies, cyberspace, environment, freedom of navigation on the seas and outer space).
Over the past 15 years, China has attempted to weaken nearly all of these major global systems. Through repeated violations of international trade practices, Beijing has destabilized world markets. It uses hundreds of billions of dollars in government subsidies and deliberate overproduction to supply global markets with Chinese goods and services at artificially low prices.
Meanwhile, it limits market access for foreign companies and imposes arbitrary non-tariff barriers. During the Covid-19 pandemic, China delayed for weeks the transmission of essential data and continues to resist any serious investigation into the origins of the virus.
Additionally, China's role in the fentanyl drug epidemic poses a direct threat to American citizens. Meanwhile, it uses cyberattacks and cyberespionage as elements of influence campaigns in the United States, through which it tries to shape public perceptions of China, stifle criticism, and deceive American voters.
It has infiltrated US infrastructure and critical facilities and continues to steal data from hundreds of millions of Americans. Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at the London-based School of Oriental and African Studies, sums up the Chinese president's ambitions this way: "Xi Jinping is not trying to further compete with America in the existing liberal international order dominated by the United States . His long-term goal is to change the world order, to one led and centered on Beijing". / Taken from "National Interest" , adapted from "Pamphlet"
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