China denounces US Defence Strategy

BEIJING: China has denounced the United States government for its Cold War and zero-sum mentality as reflected in its new national defence strategy.
The 2018 US National Defense Strategy (NDS) unveiled on Friday (Jan 19) named China and Russia as top threats to the US, just like the US National Security Strategy did last month.
“We face growing threats from revisionist powers as different as China and Russia are from each other. Nations that do seek to create a world consistent with their authoritarian models,” Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Friday.
The unclassified version of the NDS released to the public singled out China and Russia multiple times.

“China is a strategic competitor using predatory economics to intimidate its neighbours while militarising features in the South China Sea,” the NDS said.
“It is increasingly clear that China and Russia want to shape a world consistent with their authoritarian model – gaining veto authority over other nations’ economic, diplomatic, and security decisions.”
The NDS claimed that China is leveraging military modernisation, influence operations, and predatory economics to coerce neighboring countries to reorder the Indo-Pacific region to their advantage.
“Long-term strategic competitions with China and Russia are the principal priorities for the Department,” the NDS said.
A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington was quoted as saying that one’s mentality will determine how they see the world.
“If someone is always wearing dark glasses, they will never see a bright world,” the spokesman said in a statement to the press on Friday evening.

“Peace and development are the themes of this era, and are also the shared aspirations of mankind. However, if some people look at the world through a Cold War, zero-sum game mindset, then they are destined to see only conflict and confrontation,” the spokesman said.
The spokesman said China and the US shoulder important responsibilities and have extensive common interests in upholding world peace and stability and promoting global development and prosperity.
“We hope that the US can align itself with the trend of the world and the will of the people, and put the world and China-US relations into the perspective of cooperation,” the spokesman said.
Douglas Paal, vice-president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said: “The NDS appears to be a pastiche of slogans masquerading as a strategy.”
He said many in the Washington establishment will welcome its endorsement of alliances, after US President Donald Trump’s earlier criticisms.
“Beyond that, however, what I see is a wish list for ways to regain global dominance without a roadmap to get there,” Mr Paal said.

-BBC News