Does Trump’s National Security Strategy introduce an end to positive approach to China?
President Trump shared the new “National Security Strategy” of the USA yesterday and the first evaluations – as expected – were that it referred to a pragmatic view of troubled World. A report by BBC – inserted below – tells us much about what the paper was about.
One very striking part – as would be expected again – is about China and Russia which we agree to be biggest threats for USA in terms of their growing influence in the World, not the forget the unbelievable growth the Chinese have acehived in economy.
BBC Report reads as follows:
The Trump administration’s National Security Strategy – based on what the White House calls “principled realism” – marks a significant shift in emphasis from the past, presenting both a decidedly more pessimistic view of the world but nonetheless a markedly optimistic view of America’s place in it.
It is easy for critics to write off the president’s pronouncements. Certainly at times President Trump sounded as though he was still on the campaign trail in launching the new 68-page document, castigating the previous Obama administration and wrapping his new strategy in decidedly populist terms.
Nonetheless this is a document that should not be dismissed and it will repay careful reading. It sets out a pragmatic view of a turbulent and troubled world and it recasts some of the president’s favourite slogans – not least his consistent call to put “America First” – in a new and unexpected light.
A broad vision
The strategy document itself is divided into four main sections touching on all aspects of national power: diplomatic, economic and military.
In its opening preamble, President Trump asserts that “the US is leading again on the world stage”. He insists that “the whole world is lifted by America’s renewal and the re-emergence of American leadership”. But he speaks of “an extraordinarily dangerous world” where, perhaps in a muted echo of the Cold War, rival powers are “aggressively undermining American interests around the globe”.
Rows of military members sit in audience of Donald Trump speech.Image copyrightAFP/GETTY
Image caption
Members of the US military attended the speech at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington DC on Monday
The document is divided into four broad “pillars”: the first dealing with “protecting the American people, the homeland and the American way of life”. This deals with a variety of threats from jihadist terrorism, to cyber security and stresses the need to strengthen border controls and immigration policy – a key theme of Mr Trump’s presidential campaign.
The time when America stopped being great
The next section emphasises the need to “promote American prosperity”. There is a lot here that is familiar Trump policy – the need to promote fair and reciprocal economic relationships; protecting US technical innovation and rejuvenating the domestic economy. Whatever people’s views on the merits or otherwise of Mr Trump’s policies, this pillar reflects a fundamental truth: American strength abroad fundamentally rests upon prosperity at home.
The third pillar deals with traditional military strength in its conventional, nuclear, cyber and space forces. This is uncompromising on the role of rival powers, noting that “China and Russia want to shape a world antithetical to US values and interests”. It appears to signal an end to a long-standing approach to Beijing which sought to make China what Americans liked to call “a responsible stake-holder in international society”. Instead, the new Trump strategy asserts that “contrary to our hopes, China expanded its power at the expense of the sovereignty of others”.
