Mattis warns of ‘growing threats’ from Russia, China
WASHINGTON: Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said Friday that America is facing “growing threats” from China and Russia, and warned that the US military’s advantages have eroded in recent years.
Mattis’s assessment came as he unveiled the Pentagon’s vision for the future detailed in a document called the national defence strategy.
“We face growing threats from revisionist powers as different as China and Russia, nations that seek to create a world consistent with their authoritarian models,” Mattis said.
“Our military is still strong, yet our competitive edge has eroded in every domain of warfare — air, land, sea, space and cyberspace — and is continually eroding,” he added.
President Donald Trump and his administration worry that the vast US military force is feeling the effects of years of budget shortfalls and atrophy, and needs a full reboot to restore it to an idealized strength.
Part wish list, part blueprint for the coming years, the Pentagon’s national defence strategy seeks to increase the size of the military, improve its readiness and work with allies — all while operating across multiple theaters including in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
“This strategy establishes my intent to pursue urgent change at significant scale,” Mattis wrote in the introduction to the strategy.
“We must use creative approaches, make sustained investment and be disciplined in execution to field a Joint Force fit for our time, one that competes, deters and wins in this increasingly complex security environment.”
The announcement sparked a backlash from Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who branded the new US strategy as ‘confrontational.’
“It is regrettable that instead of having a normal dialogue, instead of using the basis of international law, the US is indeed striving to prove their leadership through such confrontational strategies and concepts,” Lavrov told a news conference at the United Nations.
Elbridge Colby, the US deputy assistant secretary of defence for strategy and force development, told reporters that Mattis’s strategy seeks to deal with the ‘erosion’ of America’s military advantage.
“What it is recognising is that China and Russia in particular have been assiduously working over a number of years to develop their military capabilities to challenge our military advantages,” he said.
The new defence strategy follows on from Trump’s national security strategy that he released last month which, similarly, highlights the role of China and Russia in the global security environment.
“China is a strategic competitor using predatory economics to intimidate its neighbors while militarising features in the South China Sea,” Mattis wrote. — AFP