Li said the defence strategy rested on four main pillars: defending the US homeland; deterring China in the Indo-Pacific through strength rather than confrontation; increasing burden-sharing by allies and partners; and strengthening the US defence industrial base.
He noted that the document explicitly stated that Washington’s goal was “not to dominate, contain or humiliate” Beijing, while stressing the need for military communication and dialogue between the two sides.
Yet Taiwan’s disappearance from the text was “striking”, Li said – particularly since last year’s security strategy referred repeatedly to the island’s role in the first island chain and Washington’s…