WASHINGTON – China is coercing its neighbours to reorder the Indo-Pacificregion, the Pentagon told Congress in its annual budget proposals for thefiscal 2019, beginning October 1 this year.
Trump administration today released their proposal for the fiscal year 2019budget. Fiscal years are different from calendar years. The budgetaryproposal covers October 1, 2018, through September 30, 2019.
“China is leveraging military modernisation, influence operations andpredatory economics to coerce neighbouring countries to reorder theIndo-Pacific region to their advantage,” the Pentagon said in its annualdefence budget for the fiscal 2019.
As China continues its economic and military ascendance, asserting powerthrough an all-of-nation long-term strategy, it will continue to pursue amilitary modernisation programme that seeks Indo-Pacific regional hegemonyin the near-term and displacement of the US to achieve global preeminencein the future, it said.
The most far-reaching objective of this defence strategy is to set themilitary relationship between the US and China on a path of transparencyand non-aggression, it said.
According to the Pentagon, the central challenge to the US prosperity andsecurity is the reemergence of long term, strategic competition by what theNational Security Strategy classifies as revisionist powers.
“It is increasingly clear that China and Russia want to shape a worldconsistent with their authoritarian model gaining veto authority over othernations’ economic, diplomatic and security decisions,” it said.
The Pentagon said Russia seeks veto authority over nations on its peripheryin terms of its governmental, economic and diplomatic decisions to shatterthe North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and to change European and MiddleEast security and economic structures to its favour.
The use of emerging technologies to discredit and subvert democraticprocesses in Georgia, Crimea and eastern Ukraine is concern enough, butwhen coupled with its expanding and modernising nuclear arsenal thechallenge is clear.
“Rogue regimes such as North Korea and Iran are destabilising their regionsby pursuing nuclear weapons or sponsoring terrorism,” the Pentagon said.
North Korea seeks to guarantee regime survival and increased leveragethrough a mixture of nuclear, biological, chemical, conventional andunconventional weapons and a growing ballistic missile capability to gaincoercive influence over South Korea, Japan and the US.
In the Middle East, Iran is competing with its neighbours, asserting an arcof influence and instability while vying for regional hegemony, usingstate-sponsored terrorist activities, a growing network of proxies and itsmissile programme to achieve its objectives, the Pentagon said.
According to the budgetary proposals, competitor states, especially Chinaand Russia have narrowed Department of Defence’s military technologicaladvantages, demanding the US find new and innovative ways to fight in thefuture.
“China is now a strategic competitor, using predatory economics tointimidate its neighbours while militarising features in the South ChinaSea. Russia has violated the borders of nearby nations, and pursues vetopower over the economic, diplomatic and security decisions of itsneighbours,” it said.
Concurrently, North Korea’s actions and rhetoric continue despite theUnited Nation’s censure and sanctions.
Iran continues to sow violence and remains the most significant challengeto the Middle East stability.
Despite the defeat of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’s (ISIS) physicalcaliphate, threats to stability remain as terrorist groups with long reachcontinue to murder innocent people and threaten peace, the Pentagon added.