The NSS institutionalizes trends in U. S. engagement with both China and India.
The recently released U. S. National Security Strategy (NSS) is the key to understanding the Trump administration’s foreign policy outlook. The frequent mention of India and China, albeit in different contexts, offers an important insight to the country’s foreign policy focus in the days to come. The NSS document placed great emphasis on the emerging competition between two visions of the world order — one based on a democratic, rules-based regime and the other based on a more repressive, authoritarian regime — with the United States championing the former and China, the latter. In this context, the NSS has repeatedly identified India as a “leading global power” and a key “strategic and defense” partner. The repeated mentions of China and India in the NSS foretells the trajectory of great power relations in the near future.
U. S. President Donald Trump, during his presidential campaign, was a vocal critic of China, going so far as to blame the country for the ever rising trade deficit, the slowdown of the American economy, and the consequent loss in American jobs. But after coming into power, the Trump administration has been far more accommodating toward China. After Trump’s recently concluded visit to Beijing, U. S.-China relations looked set for a turnaround.
The NSS, however, belies those expectations. The document clearly and repeatedly denounces China’s attempts at using economic inducements and military might to “persuade other states to heed its political and security agenda.” Further, and in rather tough words, the NSS criticizes China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) for its “unfair trade practices” and “extractive economic policies.” The document highlights the threats to the sovereignty of smaller nations from Chinese dominance and goes on to underline the U. S. commitment to restricting Chinese “acquisition of sensitive technologies.” In what seems like an open challenge to China’s infrastructure and economic activities around the world, the NSS pits the United States as a global champion of “free and open seaways, transparent infrastructure financing practices, unimpeded commerce and peaceful resolution of disputes.” The document makes no secret of the establishment’s concerns over China’s rapidly increasing economic footprint in African countries, which has rested on “corrupting elites, dominating extractive industries and locking countries into unsustainable and opaque debts and commitments.
