President Joe Biden has singled out China in his highly anticipated national security strategy, which outlines his administration’s plan to counter geopolitical competitors.
The document, published Wednesday, describes China as “the only competitor with both the intent and, increasingly, the capability to reshape the international order,” though it also underscores the importance of “constraining a dangerous Russia.”
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During a press briefing before remarks at Georgetown University, national security adviser Jake Sullivan referred to China as the country’s “most consequential geopolitical challenge.” But he added that the strategy attempts to avoid approaching foreign policy “through the prism of strategic competition,” amplifying the need for cooperation on issues such as “climate change, to food insecurity, to communicable diseases, to terrorism, to the energy transition, to inflation.”
“We will not try to divide the world into rigid blocs,” Sullivan said Wednesday, alluding to previous complaints from China. “We’re not seeking to have competition tip over into confrontation or a new Cold War. And we are not engaging each country as simply a proxy battleground. We’re going to engage countries on their own terms and pursue an affirmative agenda to advance common interests and to promote stability and prosperity.”
Likening the Group of Seven to the “steering committee for the free world,” Sullivan emphasized the significance of coalition-building, in addition to “investing at home.” That includes spending on the domestic workforce, critical and emerging sectors and technologies, as well as certain supply chains.
But Sullivan defended the national security strategy from criticism that its priorities are not reflected in Biden’s budget proposals, particularly regarding modernizing the military and troop readiness.
“Putting out the national security strategy will be the foundation upon which you’ll see the public release of the national defense strategy,” he said. “That includes the nuclear posture review and the missile defense review.”
Sullivan, too, was pressed on Biden’s suggestion this week that Saudi Arabia will face “consequences” for Riyadh-led OPEC+’s decision to raise oil prices amid the Russia-Ukraine war by cutting production by 2 million barrels a day from next month.
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“I know that the questions will keep coming fast and furious: what exactly that will look like, when, how, etc,” he said, adding no arm sales deals are “moving” at the moment. “The president will act and operate according to what he sees is the necessary period to consult and engage, and then he will lay out the course ahead.”
