China poses a “fundamental” risk to US security in the coming decades, while Russia poses an “acute threat”, the Pentagon said in its new defense strategy published on Thursday, AFP and Agerpres reported.

“China is the most fundamental and systemic challenge, while Russia poses a pressing threat to the national interests of the United States abroad and on American soil,” the US Department of Defense said in a document outlining the strategy for the US military for the coming years.

“The greatest and most serious threat to US national security is China’s increasingly aggressive and violent efforts to reshape the Indo-Pacific region and the international system to suit its authoritarian interests and preferences,” said the new defense strategies, released for the first time. along with the new US nuclear strategy.

“Conflict with China is neither inevitable nor desirable”

“China’s increasingly provocative rhetoric and coercive actions against Taiwan are destabilizing, risking misunderstandings and threatening peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” said the 20-page document, an expanded classified version of which was submitted to Congress several months ago.

The new American strategy “seeks to prevent Chinese dominance in key regions while protecting American territory and consolidating a stable and open international system,” adds the Pentagon, which, however, says “conflict with China is neither inevitable nor desirable.”

Russia, for its part, poses an “acute” risk, as “recently demonstrated by its unjustified invasion of Ukraine,” according to the document. “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine underscores that nuclear danger persists and may intensify in an increasingly competitive and volatile geopolitical context.”

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