China competitor in Trump security view

US President Donald Trump singled out China and Russia as competitors seeking to challenge US power and erode its security and prosperity in his first National Security Strategy launched on Monday, which removes climate change from the list of worldwide threats menacing the country.

"This strategy recognizes that, whether we like it or not, we are engaged in a new era of competition," Trump said in a speech to release the document that reflects his "America First" priorities.

The document claimed that Beijing "seeks to displace the United States in the Indo-Pacific region", listing a litany of US grievances, from deficits to data theft.

China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said ahead of Trump's national security speech that, given the significance of the United States, and that it is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, China hopes that its national security strategy can play a constructive role in promoting world peace and stability.

David Lampton, director of China studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, said that combined with trends in China, the language used in the just-released White House announcement of the National Security Strategy, and the strategy document itself, moves the US and China into "a new strategic, risky, and unwelcome space".

"It is a space in which threat and deterrence play an enlarged role, and unhealthy competition is becoming multidimensional," Lampton told China Daily.

Trump, however, also said in the strategy, "Competition does not always mean hostility, nor does it inevitably lead to conflict, although none should doubt our commitment to defend our interests." He underlined cooperation with reciprocity in his strategy.

China's top envoy in Washington Cui Tiankai wrote on China-US relations in October that it should be well understood that cooperation is the only path, and problems should be solved through extensive collaboration.

"The historical mission of our two countries is not the transfer of global dominance from one to the other, a misperception, which if allowed to persist, can lead to confrontation," Cui said. "We believe that China and the United States should commit ourselves to fostering a new type of major-country relationship rooted in mutual respect and cooperation, rather than confrontation and conflict."

William Jones, Washington bureau chief of the EIR News Service, noted that the big difference from previous US national security strategies is the emphasis on economic security as an element of overall national security.

"There was a considerable amount of 'scapegoating' of Russia and China in the NSS document, but less so in President Trump's own comments," Jones said. "I personally believe that it is only through cooperation with China - and Russia - that President Trump can succeed in accomplishing the 'revival' of the American economy."

US Senator Michael F. Bennet, a Democrat from Colorado, tweeted on Monday, "One topic noticeably missing from #NationalSecurityStrategy: Climate change. Bipartisan group of lawmakers have acknowledged #climatechange as a national security threat. @POTUS silence is cause for serious concern."

The Obama administration had described climate change as an "urgent and growing threat" to US national security.

Anthony H. Cordesman, Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at Brookings Institution, said the blueprint gives high priority to a new theme: maintaining America's "lead in research, technology, invention and innovation".

"These are critical national priorities, and the only question citing them raises is how they are going to be funded, given some of the budget cuts and constraints that reduce or limit federal support of such activities," he said.

huanxinzhao@chinadailyusa.com