RealClearPolitics’s Philip Wegmann posed an extremely important question to the White House’s John Kirby on Tuesday.
Wegmann asked why President Joe Biden is redeploying two additional Navy destroyers to Spain, even as China’s threat grows exponentially. Spain spends barely 1% of its GDP on defense (half the NATO target of 2% of GDP), so Wegmann asked, “When there seems to be an increasingly serious threat in the Indo-Pacific from China … shouldn’t Spain step up? Shouldn’t the Italians or French, you know, patrol their own waters so that we can have a free hand on the other side of the world?”
Kirby had no good answer. Indeed, the retired admiral totally ignored Wegmann’s very legitimate question. This excusing of shameless European free-riding only encourages more of it. Reflecting his discomfort with that question, Kirby shifted the topic to NATO’s eastern flank. But then, Spain is not on NATO’s eastern flank.
Yet it was Kirby’s response to how these deployments affect the U.S. military’s readiness to deter/defeat China that was most problematic.
Referencing U.S. military deployments related to China and Russia, Kirby said, “You have to do both.” He continued, “The U.S. military is a global power. And you have to be focused on all kinds of different regions and face all kind of different threats. The president was just in the Middle East because that, too, is an important area for our national security interests. We can do more than one [area].”
This is just false.
As was recently noted by Adm. John Aquilino, who leads Indo-Pacific Command, the U.S. military desperately needs more of the “critical capabilities” that allow it to operate effectively in “contested space.” That means sending more fighter aircraft and, in particular, more warships to the Pacific that are able to contest the People’s Liberation Army.
China is not Russia. Its will, means, and ambition to fight for global hegemony are unparalleled. And while members of Congress such as Rep. John Rutherford (R-FL) seem determined to help China outmatch the U.S. Navy, China’s own efforts underline why Kirby is so wrong here.
China is churning out highly capable destroyers, aircraft, and long-range missiles at an extraordinary speed. These forces threaten to overwhelm the U.S. military and deny keystone U.S. platforms such as aircraft carriers the ability to get anywhere near China. The Chinese are increasingly confident, with most U.S. intelligence and military analysts believing Xi Jinping will attack Taiwan by 2030.
Effectively countering this threat means dramatically bolstering U.S. forces in the Pacific. By spreading our forces thin across the globe, the Biden administration is playing right into China’s hands.
